AMERICA-, 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE 


lolitid,  Stoisl,  BER&  llelipus  Cjramto 

OP  THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA, 
IN  TWO  LECTURES, 


Delivered  at  Berlin,  with  a  Report  read  'before,  the  German  Church  Diet 
at  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  Sept.,  1854. 


BY   DR.    PHILIP   SCHAFF. 


QfcrattJ5lat*&  from  tfjt  (Oxtrman. 


NEW    YORK  : 

c.  SCRIB:NTER,  145  NASSAU  STREET 

1855. 


' 
63 


ESTEEED  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1 855,  by 

CHARLES    SCRIBJfER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  U.  S.  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


TC-.    H.    TIN'SOX,   STEREOTYPES.  nj'OTlfiE    Rl'SSKI.L.   PRINTER. 


PREFACE. 


THE  present  work  has  grown  out  of  two  discourses,  which  I  de 
livered,  by  request  during  a  visit  to  the  capital  of  Prussia,  on  the 
20th  and  30th  of  March  1854,  before  a  select  assembly  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  as  part  of  the  course  of  weekly  lectures  held  there 
on  various  topics  by  Drs.  Hoffman,  Nitzsch,  Stahl,  Hengstenberg, 
Tholuck,  Miiller,  Schmieder,  Ritter,  and  other  distinguished  scho 
lars  for  the  benefit  of  the  Berlin  Evangelical  Society  for  inner  mis 
sions,  in  the  Oranien  Strasse,  N.  106. 

I  had  at  first  not  the  most  distant  thought  of  their  publication, 
and  so  made  no  written  preparation  except  a  general  outline.  But 
they  were  received  by  the  highly  respectable  and  accomplished 
audience,  which  the  King  of  Prussia  and  other  members  of  the 
royal  family  occasionally  honor  with  their  presence,  with  an  inter 
est  to  me  altogether  unexpected,  although  some  of  the  most  intel 
ligent  hearers  considered  them — perhaps  not  without  reason — too 
favorable  to  the  land  of  my  adoption.  And  as  a  number  of  emi 
nent  divines  and  professors  of  the  University,  such  as  the  venerable 
Dr.  C.  Ritter,  the  acknowledged  standard  authority  in  all  that  re 
lates  to  the  earth  and  its  inhabitant?,  earnestly  solicited  their  pub 
lication,  I  felt  it  a  duty  to  yield  to  such  honorable  requests  ;  the 
more,  since  the  other  addresses,  delivered  in  behalf  of  the  Inner 
Mission  at  Berlin  during  the  last  two  winters,  have  also  been  given 
to  the  press. 

So  I  wrote  the  discourses,  as  nearly  as  I  could  remember  them  ; 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  first,  in  Berlin  and  at  a  neighboring  country-seat  ;  the  second 
partly  in  Potsdam  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  my  honored  friend, 
the  Court-preacher,  Dr.  Krummacher  (who  was  once  called  to  the 
same  professorship  in  Pennsylvania,  which  I  have  now  held  for  ten 
years),  and  partly  in  Carlsbad,  and  Vienna.  The  views  and  the 
train  of  thought  remain  the  same  ;  but  I  have  taken  the  liberty, 
especially  in  the  second  address,  to  add  and  expand  in  many  pla 
ces  for  further  illustration,  as  I  would  have  done  in  the  delivery,  if 
time  had  permitted. 

But  instead  of  treating  the  German  churches  of  America,  as  I 
did  irv  Berlin,  as  briefly  as  the  symmetry  of  the  discourse  required, 
my  publisher  thought  it  more  to  the  purpose  to  devote  to  these 
a  separate  part.  Accordingly,  after  an  interruption  of  several 
weeks  and  a  tour  through  Italy  and  Tyrol,  I  composed  the  third 
part  on  my  native  mountains  of  Switzerland.  Since  little  is  as 
yet  authentically  known  in  Germany  on  the  subject  there  treated, 
I  hope  this  part  will  be  to  many  readers  a  welcome  addition.  For 
there  I  had  the  special  advantage  of  moving  in  the  field  of  my 
own  immediate  experience  and  observation,  and  I  think  I  have 
depicted  light  and  shade  with  as  much  impartiality  as  elsewhere.* 

Thus,  contrary  to  the  original  calculation,  the  two  addresses 
have  grown  to  a  little  book,  which  bears,  perhaps  only  too  plainly, 
the  marks  of  its  fragmentary  and  almost  planless  construction 
without  the  help  of  a  li'brary  and  amidst  the  distractions  of  an 
extensive  journey.  After  all  it  is  only  an  outline  miniature  of  a 
country,  on  which  many  volumes  have  already  been  written,  and 
many  more  might  be.  Had  I  composed  the  work  at  home, 
•with  the  aid  of  my  library  and  the  manuscripts,  which  I  have 
collected  on  American  church  history  and  statistics,  it  would 
have  been,  no  doubt,  more  symmetrical,  cautious,  accurate,  and 


*In  the  present  edition  the  discourses  are  restored  to  their  original  form  by 
inserting  an  abridgment  of  the  above  mentioned  Third  Part  in  the  proper  place 
in  Part  II. 


PREFACE.  Vll 

thorough,  but  probably  also  much  more  prolix  and  less  interesting, 
at  least  for  the  general  public.  Miniature  pictures,  at  any  rate, 
are  as  well  authorized  as  full-size  portraits  ;  and  in  the  present 
burdensome  profusion  of  literature,  one  must  really  be  grateful  to 
every  author,  who  uses  as  few  words  as  possible.  Then  again,  this 
kind  of  composition,  with  all  its  inconvenience,  has  the  advantage 
of  suggesting  all  sorts  of  interesting  comparisons  between  Europe 
and  America,  not  expressly  made  indeed  in  my  representation,  but 
implied  by  manifold  allusions,  which  will  be  readily  understood 
by  the  reflecting  reader. 


I  have  now  within  the  last  eight  or  nine  months  conversed  with 
intelligent  and  excellent  men  of  different  ranks,  and  with  many 
celebrated  scholars  and  statesmen  in  Scotland,  England,  France, 
Germany,  Austria,  Italy,  and  Switzerland,  on  the  subject  of  Am 
erica  ;  and  I  have  heard  the  most  favorable  and  the  most  unfavor 
able  opinions.  By  both  I  have  been  in  general  only  confirmed  in 
the  views  already  publicly  expressed  in  Berlin.  It  might  not  be 
out  of  place,  however,  to  add  here  a  few  remarks  on  these  oppo 
site  views,  with  the  wish  and  design  to  adjust  the  contradictory 
judgments  of  Europe  respecting  this  remarkable  country,  which 
is  increasingly  engaging  the  interest  of  the  Old  World.  For  I 
would  appear  neither  as  the  unqualified  eulogist  of  the  Americans, 
nor  as  an  unsparing  censor  of  them,  especially  behind  their  backs. 
There  are  respectable  men,  professedly  of  the  highest  culture, 
especially  in  despotic  Austria,  who  have  a  real  antipathy  to  Ame 
rica,  speak  of  it  with  the  greatest  contempt  or  indignation,  and 
see  in  it  nothing  but  a  grand  bedlam,  a  rendezvous  of  European 
scamps  and  vagabonds.  Even  in  a  north-German  city,  where 
there  is  otherwise  so  much  intelligence  respecting  the  whole  world, 
a  lady  of  the  first  rank  asked  me  in  good  earnest,  if  I  could  think 
of  returning  to  such  a  barbarian  country,  where  the  mob  ruled 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

supreme,  and  where  neither  person  nor  property  is  safe.  Such 
notions  it  is  unnecessary  to  refute. 

Not  so  the  charges  of  slavery,  materialism,  radicalism,  and 
sectarianism,  These  features  of  the  country  are  almost  universally 
censured  in  the  most  intelligent  circles  of  Europe,  and  set  down  as 
the  chief  deformities  of  the  United  States,  and  as  the  rocks,  on 
which  they  must  ultimately  suffer  shipwreck,  unless  they  take  in 
time  a  different  course.  Unquestionably  these  are  the  sorest  places 
and  most  dangerous  infirmities  of  the  country  ;  and  under  them 
it  would  have  to  fall,  had  it  not  soundness  and  vitality  enough  to 
react  against  the  morbid  matter.  But  soundness  and  vitalily  it 
has  ;  and  this  cannot  be  overlooked  without  the  greatest  injustice  . 

SLAVERY  is,  without  question,  the  political  and  social  canker,  the 
tendo-Achilles,  in  the  otherwise  vigorous  system  of  the  United 
States,  and  contradicts  alike  its  own  republican  symbol  and  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  and  philanthropy.  It  may  yet  divide  the 
Union,  in  spite  of  all  compromise  measures,  and  may  even  produce 
the  horrors  of  a  civil  war,  which  God  in  mercy  prevent.  Quite 
recently,  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  and  the  over 
throw  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  have  roused  the  deepest  indig 
nation  in  the  North,  which  is  bound  in  self-respect  and  by  still 
higher  considerations  to  resist  with  all  constitutional  means  the 
further  extension  of  the  curse  of  slavery  on  the  soil  of  freedom. 
The  best  men  of  the  Southern  states  themselves  cannot  wish  it,  if 
they  prize  the  union  of  their  beloved  country,  the  cause  of  freedom 
and  humanity.  It  is  idle  to  set  against  it  the  "  white  slavery," 
which  is  bad  enough,  to  be  sure,  especially  in  the  manufacturing 
towns  and  mineral  regions  of  Europe  5  for  one  sin  can  never  justi 
fy  another.  The  appeal  to  the  fact,  that  humanity  and  Christianity 
everywhere  mitigate  the  evil ;  that  the  slaves  are  in  many  cases 
far  better  off  than  the  free  negroes  in  the  north  ;  and  that  mon 
sters,  like  Mrs.  Stowe's  Legree,  are  rare  exceptions  ;  —  does  not 
amount  to  an  exculpation  ;  for  we  have  here  to  do  with  a  princi 
ple  and  a  legal  institution. 


PREFACE.  IX 

But  to  those,  who  see  only  the  writings  of  Theodore  Parker,  re 
cently  translated,  and  the  literature  of  the  Garrisonian  Aboli 
tionists,  which  are  unsound,  fanatical,  and  extremely  radical  in  all 
political  and  social  questions,  and  infidel  in  religion,  and  who  so  pass 
an  unsparing  and  unqualified  condemnation  on  the  United  States 
as  a  whole,  I  would  suggest  the  following  considerations,  which 
may  at  least  modify  their  judgments.  In  the  first  place,  the 
Americans  are  not  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  the  evil,  but 
only  for  the  continuation  of  it  ;  the  introduction  of  it  is  due  to 
the  Spaniards,  Portuguese,  French,  Dutch,  and  English.  Second 
ly,  thousands  and  millions  not  only  in  New  England,  where  aboli 
tionism  prevails,  but  also  in  the  middle  and  western,  and  indeed 
even  in  the  southern  states,  as  thoroughly  abhor  this  institution, 
as  any  European  philanthropist  does ;  though  they  differ  about 
the  way  and  the  time  of  abolishing  it.  Thirdly,  this  interest  has 
already  lost  the  preponderance  in  the  Union,  and  must  in  time  die 
out,  as  it  did  in  the  Northern  states,  where  it  formerly  existed  ;  for 
since  the  acquisition  of  California  the  fifteen  slave  stales  have 
against  them  sixteen  free  states  with  incomparably  better  pros 
pects  of  growth  and  thrift.  Fourthly,  there  is  here  involved  an 
almost  irreconcilable  difference  of  races,  and  that  not  in  distant 
colonies,  as  was  the  case  with  England,  and  is  still  the  case  with- 
Spain,  but  in  the  heart  of  the  country  itself  and  in  the  closest  con 
nection  with  the  material  interests  of  the  South.  Fifthly,  the  con 
dition  of  the  negroes  in  the  American  slave  states  is  a  great  ad 
vance  on  the  heathen  barbarism  of  their  brethren  in  Africa.  And 
finally,  since  the  founding  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 
which  is  engaging  a  growing  interest  even  in  the  Southern  states, 
while  a  part  of  the  Abolitionists  fanatically  oppose  it,  the  tragical 
mystery  of  the  negro  race  promises  to  unfold  itself  in  a  truly 
providential  way,  and  the  gloom  of  slavery  begins  to  break  into 
the  dawn  of  the  Christianization  and  civilization  of  Africa  by  her 
own  unfortunate  children  once  violently  torn  from  her  and  now 
peacefully  sent  back  to  the  Republic  of  Liberia. 


X  PREFACE. 

MATERIALISM,  the  race  for  earthly  gain  and  pleasure  and  the 
worship  of   the   "almighty  dollar,"    finds    unquestionably  vast 
-encouragement  in   the   inexhaustible    physical   resources  of  the 
country  and  the  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth.    But  it  fortunately 
has  a  strong  and  wholesome  counterpoise  in  the  zeal  for  liberal 
education,  the  .enthusiastic  spirit  of  philanthropy,  and  the  munifi- 
cent   liberality  of  the   people ;   and   above   all,  in   Christianity, 
which  points  thousands  and  millions  among  them  away  from  the 
vain  glories  of  time  to  the  imperishable  riches  of  heaven,  and  fos 
ters  all  the  higher  interests  of  the  mind  and  heart.     The  Ameri 
cans,  indeed,  have  better   opportunity  to  get  rich,  and  so  are 
under  greater  temptations  in  this  view,  than  most  other  nations 
But  in  general  they  also  make  very  good  use  of  their  gains.     This  is 
incontrovertibly  proved  by  the  numberless  churches,  schools,  scien 
tific  and  benevolent  institutions  of  all  sorts,  which  owe  their  origin 
purely  to  voluntary  contributions.     The  Americans,  like  the  Eng 
lish  and  Scotch,  are  more  avaricious,  but  also  more  liberal,  than,  for 
example,  the  Germans,  who  keep  much  more  closely  what  they 
once   get,  and   are  thus  more    inclined    both   to   the  virtue  of 
economy  and  the  corresponding  vice  of  niggardliness.    I  speak, 
of    course,   of  the    rule,  admitting  a  thousand   exceptions.     As 
there   are  extremely  benevolent  and  self-sacrificing  Germans,  so 
there  are  most  niggardly  and  covetous  Anglo-Saxons.      Of  the 
correctness  of  our  general  assertion  one  may  assure  himself  daily 
and  hourly  in  America  by  comparing  the  German  and  English 
churches.     Further  testimony  is  furnished  by  the  annual  reports  of 
the  Bible  and  Missionary  Societies,  which  show  that  England  alone 
contributes  more  money  for  the  distribution  of  the  Bible  and  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  than  the  whole  continent  of  Europe.     I 
would  not  make  light  of  the  vast  danger,  which  threatens  America 
from  her  position  a;id  her  outward  prosperity.     Only  it  must  be 
remembered,  that  ungodly,  worldly  philosophy,  pantheistic  self- 
deification,  and  the  most  refined  pleasure-seeking,  are  the  infirmi 
ties  of  all  modern  civilization,  and  are  much  more  deeply  rooted 


PREFACE.  XI 

and  widely  spread  in  Europe  than  in  Puritanic  Americans  a  com 
parison  of  Boston  with  Petersburg.  New  York  with  Hamburg  or 
Paris,  Philadelphia  with  Berlin  or  Vienna,  especially  on  a  Sunday, 
would  very  soon  show. 

RADICALISM  finds  in  republican  America  full  play  for  its  wild, 
wanton  revclings,  its  reckless  efforts  to  uproot  all  that  is  estab 
lished,  and  to  lift  the  world  off  its  hinges.     There  is  a  great  deal 
of  political  atheism  in  that  country,  which  practically  denies  the 
divine  origin  of  civil  government  altogether,  and  makes  the  sove 
reign  people  not  only  the  medium  and  instrumental  cause  but  the 
ultimate  source  of  all  power.    And  this  kind  of  democracy  is 
generally  only  a  decent  name  for  social  despotism,  or  downright 
mobocracy.    There  have  occurred  lately  in  the  most  respectable 
cities  of  the  Union — Philadelphia,  New  York,  Cincinnati,  and  even 
Boston — most   disgraceful    scenes   of  rowdyism,  which,  at    first 
sight,  might  justify  the  worst  fears  concerning  the  future  of  thp.fc 
country.    Happily,  however,  these  wild  outbreaks  are  not  the  true 
expression  of  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  and  even  the  legislatures 
and  the  Congress  represent  by  no  means  the  heart  of  American 
society.      There  is  unquestionably  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  a 
strong  conservatism  and  a  deeply-rooted  reverence  for  the  divine 
law  and  order ;  and  even  in  the  midst  of  the  storms  of  political 
agitation  it  listens  ever  and  anon  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  sober 
reflection.    It  should  never  be  forgotten,  too,  that  when  in  1848 
all  the  thrones  on  the  continent  of  Europe  trembled,  and  the  foun 
dations  of  social  life  were  shaken,  England  and  North  America 
stood  firm.    This  fact  alone  proves  more  than  whole  volumes  of 
argument.     Despotism  and  abuse  of  the  power  of  government 
make  revolution  ;  while  moderate  constitutional  liberalism  forms 
the  safest  barrier  "against  it.    Radicalism,  therefore,  can  never 
have  such  a  meaning,  and  do  so  much  harm  in  England  and 
America,  as  in  countries  where  it  is  wantonly  provoked  to  revolu 
tionary  reaction.    It  continually  breaks  on  the  free  institutions  of 
the  country  and  the  sound  sense  of  order  in  the  people.    Some 


Xll  PKEFACF. 

hundred  unarmed  constables  keep  the  two-million  city  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons  in  order  ;  while  whole  armies  cannot  preserve  Paris 
from  revolutionary  outbreaks.  All  depends,  of  course,  at  last 
upon  the  character  of  the  nation.  Liberal  and  even  republican 
institutions  of  themselves  are  no  guarantee  to  the  freedom  and 
order  of  the  people,  unless  it  be  fully  prepared,  by  the  power  of 
self-government,  to  turn  them  to  proper  account.  This  is  suffi 
ciently  clear  from  the  example  of  Mexico  and  the  other  South 
American  republics,  where  revolutions  and  social  disorders  fol 
low  each  other  in  rapid  succession. 

Finally,  the  SECT  SYSTEM  is  certainly  a  great  evil.  It  contradicts 
the  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  church ;  which  we  can  no  more  give  up, 
than  the  unity  of  God,  the  unity  of  Christ,  the  unity  and  inward 
harmony  of  truth.  But,  in  the  first  place,  so  long  as  confessional 
controversies  are  unsettled,  it  is  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the 
universal  freedom  of  religion  and  worship,  which  seems  to  be 
making  progress  even  in  the  public  opinion  of  Europe,  and  the 
advantages  of  which  on  the  whole  outweigh  the  disadvantages  of 
n  police  force  and  dead  uniformity.  For  religion  is  the  deepest 
and  holiest  interest  of  man,  and  thrives  best  in  the  atmosphere 
of  freedom.  It  is,  in  fact^itself  the  highest  freedom,  the  liberation 
of  the  spirit  from  the  bonds  of  sin  and  the  merely  natural  life. 
"Faith,"  says  Luther,  "  is  a  free  thing,  which  can  be  forced  upon 
no  one."  Compulsion  in  this  sphere  only  produces  hypocrisy  and 
infidelity.  It  is  a  fact,  that  the  civil  equality  of  all  churches  and 
sects  in  America,  and  the  voluntary  system  inseparable  from  it, 
have  aroused  and  are  sustaining  a  great  mass  of  individual  activ 
ity  and  self-denial  for  religious  purposes,  and  an  uncommon  rivalry. 
The  editor  of  a  celebrated. political  journal  in  Austria  who  has 
lived  several  years  in  America  (an  Israelite,  I  believe,  and  there 
fore,  an  impartial  witness),  lately  said  to  me  :  "  The  United  States 
are  by  far  the  most  religious  and  Christian  country  in  the  world ; 
and  that,  just  because  religion  is  there  most  free."  This  is  the 
opinion  of  many  others,  who  take  an  unprejudiced  view  of  the 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

country.  Thus  God  can  bless  even  the  sectarian  division  of  the 
church,  to  the  advancement  of  Christianity,  as  he  used  the  papacy 
in  the  Middle  Age  for  the  discipline  of  the  Germanic  and  Romanic 
nations.  This  justifies  neither  the  former  nor  the  latter  in  itself. 
There  may  still  be  something  Antichristian  in  both. 

The  abstract  separation  of  Church  and  State,  I  cannot  regard  as 
the  perfect  and  ultimate  condition  of  things  ;  for  Christianity  aims 
to  leaven  and  sanctify  all  spheres  of  human  life,  as  well  as  all  the 
powers  of  the  soul.  But  the  union  hitherto  subsisting  in  Europe 
is  equally  far  from  the  truth,  and  rests  in  part  on  grand  illusions* 
as  the  year  1848,  for  example,  must  show  to  the  blindest.  And 
where  is  the  European  power,  which,  in  the  present  Eastern  con 
flict,  would  put  Christian  interests  foremost,  or  even  allow  them  a 
preponderance  over  political?  Catholic  France  and  Protestant 
England  professedly  declared  war  against  a  Christian  power  for 
the  integrity  of  Turkey,  which  can  not  be  separated,  as  it  now 
stands,  from  Mahometanisra,  the  inveterate  foe  of  Christendom. 
Russia,  indeed,  seems  to  plant  the  standard  of  the  cross  against 
the  crescent,  but  the  love  for  territorial  aggrandizement  is,  in  fact, 
the  principal  cause  of  her  aggression  upon  Turkey ;  and  even  if 
her  profession  were  perfectly  sincere,  it  would  be  only  the  Greek 
cross,  which  is  no  longer  a  blooming  tree  of  life,  as  in  the  days  of 
the  Apostles,  martyrs,  and  church  fathers,  but  a  dead  idol  and  a 
despotic  sword,  intolerable  alike  to  the  Latin  crucifix,  and  the 
evangelical  preaching  of  the  Crucified.  Of  course  the  connection 
between  the  temporal  and  spiritual  power,  where  it  exists,  ought 
not  to  be  arbitrarily  dissolved  in  a  revolutionary  spirit ;  nor  was 
it  so  abolished  in  America  ;  things  took  their  present  shape  there, 
in  this  respect,  by  an  entirely  natural  growth.  Christianity  pro 
ceeds  in  an  altogether  conservative  spirit  and  with  the  tenderest 
regard  for  all  existing  institutions.  With  many  disadvantages, 
union  has,  in  fact,  great  advantages;  not  the  least  of  which  is,  that 
it  brings  all  the  children  of  the  state  under  religious  instruction 
and  the  spiritual  guardianship  of  the  church.  A  Christian  govern- 


XIV  PREFACE. 

merit  can  be  made  an  infinite  blessing  to  a  people ;  and  to  have 
such  a  government  must  be  matter  of  joy.  But  in  the  first  place, 
the  freedom  and  independence  of  the  church  is,  after  all,  a  precious 
boon.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  very  hazardous  for  the  church  to 
expect  too  much  of  that  union,  and  to  put  her  trust  in  the  tempo 
ral  arm,  especially  in  our  days,  when  truly  Christian  princes  and 
statesmen  have  become  much  more  rare  than  in  the  times  of  the 
Reformation.  And  in  the  last  place,  the  Church  will  do  well  to 
hold  herself  in  readiness  for  the  possible  event  of  a  violent  rupture 
of  that  venerable  bond,  if  not  for  a  formal  persecution  by  the  tem 
poral  powers,  if  they  should  fall  again,  by  some  unexpected  turn, 
into  Red  Republican  hands.  In  America,  as  well  as  in  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland  and  of  Vaud,  she  already  has  the  practical 
proof  (indeed,  the  first  three  centuries  are  proof  enough),  that  the 
Church  can  live  and  thrive  without  the  support  of  the  secular 
arm. 

Furthermore,  sectarianism,  as  we  have  endeavored  to  show  in 
the  second  discourse,  is  really  not  an  infirmity  of  America  only, 
but,  if  you  please,  of  all  Protestantism.  It  is  the  natural  result  of 
the  centrifugal  tendencies  of  a  one-sided  religious  subjectivity,  and 
would  reveal  itself  also  in  Germany,  the  moment  universal  reli 
gious  freedom  were  conceded.  The  theoretical  germs  of  it  are  all 
here.  Even  as  matters  now  stand,  Europe  shows  not  everywhere 
the  same  evangelical  church  ;  England  and  Scotland  have  their 
established  churches  with  a  great  number  of  dissenting  com 
munions,  which  are  likewise  Protestant,  but  have  no  connection 
with  the  establishment  or  with  one  another  ;  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland  there  is  a  multitude  of  Lutheren  United,  and  Reform 
ed  national  and  cantonal  churches,  each  of  which  has  its  own  con 
stitution,  hymn-book,  and  liturgy,  and  presents  in  the  pulpit  and 
the  professorial  chair  the  most  various  theological  tendencies, 
from  the  stiflfest  orthodoxy  to  the  boldest  rationalism  and  pan 
theism.  For  even  the  question  concerning  the  authority  of  the 
Protestant  creed  is  as  yet  confessedly  nowhere  fully  [settled. 


PREFACE.  XV 

Only  in  free  conferences  of  ministers,  on  the  largest  scale  at  the 
German  Church  Diet  and  the  Swiss  Ministerial  Association,  does 
that  inward  unity  of  spirit  plainly  appear,  which,  blessed  be  God, 
still  exists  among  all  true  believers.     But  these  conferences  are 
not  the  church  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.    They  only  repre 
sent  a  part  of  it.    They  have  no  official  and  legislative  power. 
They  pass  pious  resolutions,  but  not  binding  decrees ;  and  they 
can  be  regarded  only  as  a  preparation  for  the  one  evangelical 
church  of  the  German  tongue.     The  difference  between  European 
and  American  Protestantism  in  this  respect  is,  therefore,  not  so 
great  as  would  at  first  sight  appear  ;  and  the  reproach  of  want  of 
unity,  which  Roman  Catholic  divines  are  continually  casting  up  to 
us,  falls  as  much  on  Europe  as  on  America.     Indeed  Bellarmine 
and  Bossuet  used  the  argument  of  dissent  and  perpetual  variation 
against  the  Reformers  and  their  immediate  successors  ;  and  Mel- 
anchthon  himself  died  of  grief  over  the  distraction  of  the  evangeli 
cal  church  in  the  sixteenth  century.     Not  to  give  up,  therefore, 
the  good  cause  of  the  Reformation  and  bow  to  the  yoke  of  Roman 
uniformity,  preferring  the  repose  of  the  church-yard  to  the  strug 
gle  of  life,  we  must  regard  the  present  distraction  and  fermenttngs 
of  Protestantism  as  the  necessary  transition  state  to  a  far  higher 
and  better  condition,  to  a  free  unity  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  em 
bracing  the  greatest  variety  of  Christian  life.    But  first  the  reli 
gious  subjectivity  and  individuality  of  the  sect  system,  with  all  the 
accompanying  infirmities,  must  freely  and  fully  develop  themselves; 
just  as  a  full  unfolding  of  the  principle  of  Catholicism,  in  both  the 
good  form  of  authority  and  the  bad  form  of  tyranny  had  to  pre 
cede  the  purifying  and  emancipating  struggle  of  the  Reformation. 
Now  America  tends  towards  this  consistent  carrying  out  of  the 
religions  and  political  principle  of  Protestantism  ;    that  is,  the 
practical  application  of  the  universal  priesthood  and  kingship  of 
Christians. 

These  are  the  leading  charges  against  America.     I  would  not 
extenuate  them  by  what  I  have  now  said.     For  I  grant.  I  myself 


XVI  PREFACE. 

very  painfully  feel  them,  especially  the  misery  and  confusion  of 
the  present  condition  of  the  church.  I  only  wish  to  modify  them, 
and  by  pointing  to  kindred  evils  in  Europe,  to  forestall  an  im 
moderate  condemnation  of  America. 

But  then  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  heard  it  said  in  various 
quarters,  and  by  most  intelligent  men  too,  even  by  those  who 
really  have  no  sympathy  with  the  peculiar  genius  and  the  present 
condition  of  the  United  States,  that  the  future  lies  with  this  coun 
try.  This  is  ascribing  to  it  a  vast  importance.  Even  one  of  the 
most  experienced  and  celebrated  absolutist  statesmen  of  Austria, 
whom  I  will  not  namefcere,  conceded  this,  though  he  thought,  that 
America  would  have  to  undergo  radical. changes,  and  become  a 
monarchy,  before  it  could  accomplish  its  great  mission.  Many 
others,  among  them  able  writers  and  former  Hegelians,  are  of 
opinion,  that  old  and  declining  Europe  must  gradually  exhaust 
herself  by  a  series  of  revolutions  and  convulsions,  which  only 
temporarily  failed  in  1848,  and  will  repeat  themselves  on  a  larger 
and  larger  scale  ;  and  that  she  must  sink  into  Asiatic  stagnation, 
that  America  may  be  an  improved  continuation  of  Europe ;  that 
is,  provided  a  new  age  of  humanity  and  the  church  is  to  be  ex 
pected  at  all.  The  Romanic  nations,  say  they,  have  already  out 
lived  themselves,  and  nothing  great  is  any  longer  to  be  expected 
from  Greece,  Italy,  and  Spain.  France  is  a  volcano,  which  may 
break  out  again  at  any  moment  and  set  all  Europe  on  fire.  Even 
in  obstinate,  conservative  England  the  ancient  Christian  institutions 
are  gradually  giving  way,  and  must  sooner  or  later  make  room 
not  only  for  a  change  of  dynasties,  as  in  1688,  but  for  a  formal 
social  revolution.  Germany  has  done  her  work  for  the  history  of 
the  world  by  the  production  of  the  Romano-  Germanic  empire  and 
by  the  Reformation,  in  the  results  and  after-workings  of  which  she 
still  lives;  and  she  will  gradually  die  away,  as  did  Judaism  after 
the  birth  of  the  Messiah.  From  Russia  little  is  to  be  expected 
except  perhaps  an  overthrow  of  the  civilization  of  western  Europe 
by  a  new  irruption  of  barbarism,  without  much  prospect  of  a  new 


PREFACE.  XVII 

creation  on  the  ruins  of  the  old.  For  the  Sclaves  are  not  fresh 
children  of  nature  as  were  the  Germans  at  the  threshold  of  the  mid 
dle  ages,  but  are  already  too  old,  and  have  taken  up  the  very  worst 
elements  of  European  civilization,  as  for  example,  the  most  refined 
voluptuousness.  The  only  alternative  therefore  is  either  to  believe 
in  the  speedy  destruction  of  the  world,  or  to  look  hopefully  to  the 
western  hemisphere  as  the  land  of  promise,  to  which  in  fact  the 
massive  emigration  from  all  parts  of  Europe  seems  to  point. 

To  Americans  of  the  common  stamp,  especially  the  Nativists 
and  Know-Nothings  (as  the  anti-foreigners  call  themselves),  this 
would  be  water  for  their  mill,  and  a  capital  text  for  Fourth-of-July 
speeches,  which  usually  overflow  with  the  most  disgusting  self- 
glorification  at  the  expense  of  the  Old  World.  I  must  confess, 
cannot  adopt  so  comfortless  a  view  of  the  prospects  of  Europe.  At 
worst,  I  would  hope  for  a  resurrection  of  this  quarter  of  the  world 
from  its  grave.  For  if  Asia  may  be  regenerated  by  Europe,  as  it 
now  seems  probable,  and  as  the  Eastern  question  seems  to  indicate, 
so  that  Palestine  and  Syria,  the  sacred  birth-place  of  Christianity, 
shall  bloom  again,  and  East  India  and  China  join  with  them  in 
praising  the  triune  God  ;  why  may  not  Europe,  if  she  should  ever 
decay,  be  likewise  regenerated  by  America?  As  the  setting  sun 
throws  back  his  golden  beams  to  the  eastern  horizon,  as  the  pledge 
of  his  return  in  the  east ;  so  history  shows  likewise  its  reacting  in 
fluences.  But  at  all  events,  Europe  still  stands  on  the  summit  of 
Christian  civilization,  and  will  certainly  yet  long  remain  there  in 
spite  of  all  threatening  storms,  and  long  continue  to  furnish  her 
youthful,  vigorous  daughter  beyond  the  ocean  ^v^th  the  richest 
nourishment  of  her  spiritual  life. 

But  whatever  may  become  of  her  venerable  mother/jEurope,  Amer 
ica  is,  without  question,  emphatically  a  land  of  the  future.  This  is 
no  merit  of  the  Americans  ;  for,  of  course,  they  are  in  themselves 
not  a  whit  better  than  the  Europeans.  It  is  the  favor  of  Provi 
dence  ;  and  it  should  not  make  them  vain  and  haughty,  but  earnest 
and  humble,  that  tbey  may  faithfully  and  conscientiously  fulfill  their  - 


XV111  PREFACE. 

mission.  So  surely  as  the  sun  goes  from  east  to  west,  only  to  rise 
again  in  the  east,  so  truly  "  Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its 
way."  Of  this  I  have  only  been  more  firmly  convinced  by  my 
present  tour  in  Europe.  This  visit  will  always  be  to  mo,  indeed, 
one  of  the  most  delightful  memories  of  my  life.  For  everything 
beautiful  and  good,  which  I  have  seen  and  heard,  especially  for 
stimulating  and  profitable  interchange  of  ideas  and  cordial  inter 
course  with  many  dear  friends,  old  and  new,  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  I  feel  most  deeply  thankful  to  God,  the  Giver  of  every 
good  gift.  Yet  I  return  with  an  elevated  sense  of  the  vast  impor 
tance  of  America  for  the  destiny  of  mankind. 

TVliile  Europe  is  now  in  the  ripest  age  of  manhood,  America  is  as 
yet  an  unripe  youth,  not  seldom  wanton  and  adventurous,  but  fresh? 
vigorous,  and  promising  ;  a  giant  youth,  already  stretching  out 
his  arms  over  land  and  sea.  east  and  west,  even  to  Africa  and 
Japan.  As  to  particulars,  he  is  justly  open,  almost  indefinitely, 
to  censure  and  reproach  ;  but  on  the  whole,  and  especially  in  per 
spective,  he  is  truly  sublime  in  his  proportions,  like  the  Niagara 
Falls,  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  his 
majestic  fatherland.  He  has  already  turned  over  a  new  leaf  of 
the  history  of  the  world  and  of  the  church,  and  will  assuredly 
write  it  full  of  great  deeds.  All  is  in  a  ferment  there  as  yet,  in 
•the  first  formation  state ;  but  looks  to  the  grandest  future.  A 
process  of  amalgamation  is  now  going  on  there,  like  that  among 
the  Germanic,  Romanic,  and  Celtic  races  at  the  migration  of  the 
nations,  and  that  in  England  after  the  Norman  invasion  ;  but  on  a 
far  broader  foundation,  on  a  much  larger  scale,  and  under  much 
more  favorable  conditions.  In  the  United  States  all  nations,  all 
churches  and  sects,  all  the  good  and  evil  powers  of  the  old  world, 
meet  without  blows  or  bloodshed  ;  and  while  Europe  began  with 
paganism  and  barbarism,  America  begins  with  the  results  of 
Europe's  two  thousand  years'  course  of  civilization,  and  has  vigor, 
energy,  enterprise,  and  ambition  enough  to  put  out  this  enormous 
capital  at  the  most  profitable  interest  for  the  general  good  of 
mankind. 


PREFACE.  XIX 

It  is,  of  course,  not  my  design  to  mingle  in  European  strifes,  or 
indirectly  to  favor  this  or  that  political  or  ecclesiastical  party. 
This  would  be,  indeed,  for  a  stranger,  a  beginning  as  immodest 
and  unskillful  as  it  would  be  unprofitable.  I. very  well  know  that 
Germany  has  an  entirely  different  work  from  America,  and  that  it 
would  be  altogether  unhistorical  and  unnatural  to  transfer  the 
institutions  of  the  one  country  abruptly  to  the  other.  Every 
country  must  develop  itself  from  within  by  a  natural  growth. 
But  this  process  does  not  exclude  the  beneficial  co-operation  of 
foreign  elements.  The  German,  for  example,  will  never  become, 
and  should  never  become,  an  Englishman,  nor  the  Englishman  a 
German  or  Frenchman.  Nevertheless  each  may  learn  very  much 
from  the  other.  For  instance,  the  realism  and  the  practical  church 
activity  of  the  Englishman  and  Anglo-American  may  stimulate 
and  improve  the  German,  as  much  as  the  idealism  and  science  of 
the  German  may  improve  the  American.  But  to  do  this  mutual 
service  they  must  first  become  better  acquainted  with  each  other, 
and  drop  their  mutual  prejudices.  I  would  that  the  following 
sketch  of  the  actual  condition  of  America  might  help  them  to  do 
so.  There  certainly  is  a  great  deal  in  the  political  and  religious 
life  of  the  New  World  which  may  both  stimulate  and  warn  Ger 
many  ;  and  the  sight  of  zealous  activity  and  fresh  energy  in 
others  rouses  and  improves  ourselves,  even  though  our  work  may 
be  of  an  altogether  different  kind. 

The  great  thing  now  is,  to  collect  and  concentrate  all  the  better 
powers  of  the  mental  and  moral  world.  Europe  and  America 
ought  to  link  themselves  together,  not  only  by  steamships  and 
commerce,  but  by  the  far  closer  bond  of  intellectual  and  religious 
intercourse,  that  they  may  learn  more  and  more  to  understand, 
esteem,  love,  and  advance  each  other  in  the  common  work  of 
extending  the  kingdom  of  God  and  Christian  civilization  through 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  world. 

THE   AUTHOR. 

ST.  MAURICK,  IN  ENGADIN,  SWITZERLAND, 
August  10 1 1854. 


TO   THE   AMERICAN   READER 


IN  committing  this  volume  to  the  American  public,  in  a  faithful 
translation  by  the  hand  of  an  esteemed  friend,  who  thought  it  worth 
while  to  assume  the  task,  the  author  would  respectfully  ask  the  reader 
to  keep  in  mind,  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  notes,  it  was  written 
in  Germany  and  for  Germany,  in  view  of  false  impressions  and 
strong  prejudices,  which  are  widely  spread  in  the  higher  circles  of 
Europe,  concerning  the  United  States.  The  address  delivered  by 
appointment  before  the  Evangelical  Church  Diet  at  Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine,  in  September  last,  is  no  part  of  the  original  work  ;  but 
as  it  treats  on  the  same  subject  under  a  different  and  more  prac 
tical  aspect;,  it  was  translated  by  another  and  equally  skillful  hand 
from  the  published  proceedings  of  that  large  assembly,  and  forms 
now  the  third  part  in  the  place  of  a  separate  chapter  on  the 
German  churches,  which  has  been  greatly  abridged  by  the  trans 
lator  with  the  consent  of  the  author. 

"Since  the  publication  of  the  original  in  Berlin,  many  things 
have  happened  in  America  in  rapid  succession  in  the  departments 
of  both  national  and  state  politics,  of  finance,  and  of  municipal 
government,  which  seem  to  contradict  the  highly  favorable  views 
of  this  book  on  the  present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  our 
country,  and  to  justify  the  fear,  that  it  is  rotting  before  it  is  ripe. 


XX11  TO    THE    AMERICAN"    READER. 

and  will  yet  add  another  proof  to  the  sad  reflection  of  the  poet 
of  Childe  Harold : 

"  There  is  a  moral  of  all  human  tales ; 

'Tis  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  past ; 
First  freedom,  and  then  glory — when  that  fails, 
Wealth,  vice,  corruption — barbarism  at  last." 

Jn  view  of  the  history  of  the  past  and  present  year,  we  hav.e  no 
reason  to  boast  and  to  look  down  upon  any  nation  of  the  Old 
World.  Still  I  would  not  on  this  account  retract  any  sentiment 
publicly  expressed  at  Berlin  and  at  Frankfort,  and  several  other 
cities  of  Europe.  The  manifold  appearances  of  corruption,  I  hope, 
are  only  the  scum  on  the  surface ;  diseases  of  the  skin,  and  not  of 
the  heart.  They  may  darken  our  immediate  prospects,  but  they 
cannot  affect  our  ultimate  destiny. 

Providence  has  evidently  prepared  this  country  and  nation  for 
the  greatest  work,  and  no  power  on  earth  can  arrest  its  progress 
and  prosperity,  if  we  are  true  to  our  calling,  if  we  fear  God  and 
love  righteousness,  mindful  of  the  maxim — "No  liberty  without 
virtue ;  no  virtue  without  religion  ;  no  religion  without  Chris 
tianity  ;  Christianity,  the  safeguard  of  our  republic  and  hope  of 
the  world.'-' 

P.  S. 


,  Pa.,  Ang.  7, 1S55. 


CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 

IMPORTANCE,    POLITICAL    SYSTEM,    NATIONAL     CHARACTER,    CULTURE, 
LITERATURE,    AXD  RELIGION   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES. 

Page 

i.  SIZE  AND  GROWTH  .        ,        .    ..    ^    \-.^  .  .  .  9 

ii.  POLITICAL  CONDITION        .   -    . '  f  v       .  .  .  .  19 

HI.  NATIONAL  CHARACTER  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  .  .'•  .  52 

iv.  SCIENCE  AND  LITERATURE        .        .      ..  .  .  .  67 

v.  RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH    .  86 


PART    II. 

THE     CHURCHES     AND     SECTS. 

i.  GENERAL  ECCLESIASTICAL  CONDITION  OP  THE  U.  S.        .  103 

n.    THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS        ....  125 

(a)  THE  CONGREGATIONALISTS 129 

(b)  THE  PRESBYTERIANS         .        .       .        .        .-      .  142 

(c)  THE  REFORMED  DUTCH     ...        ,        .        .  146 
(4)   THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.      .        .        .  152 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

Pag* 

^e)   THE  METHODISTS       .        .        .        .  -     .        .  164 

(f)  THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES   ...        .        .        .176 

(1)  THE  LUTHERAN 181 

(2)  THE  GERMAN  REFORMED   ...        .        .194 

(3)  THE  ETANGELICAL  UNION  OF  THE  WEST  .        .200 

(4)  SMALLER  GERMAN  DENOMINATIONS  AND  SECTS  .     203 

(g)  THE  BAPTISTS    ...        .     . .  .        .        .        .     205 

(h)   THE  QUAKERS    .        ..       .        ....        .        .213 

(i)    THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH        ....    218 

(j)    THE -MORMONS  ...  ....    243 


PART    III. 

GERMANY      AND      AMERICA. 

I.     THE   SIGNIFICANCE    OF    NORTH   AMERICA   FOR   THE    FUTURE 

DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE    KINGDOM   OF   GOD         .  .      256 

II.     THE   POSITION   AND   WORK    OF   THE    GERMAN    EVANGELICAL 

CHURCH  IN  AMERICA      .        .        .        /       ."       .    267 
in.   DUTY  OF  THE  GERMAN  EVANGELICAL  MOTHER-CHURCH 

TOTVARD3    HER   DAUGHTER   IN   AMERICA   .  .  .      270 


THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 


PART    I. 

THEIR    IMPORTANCE,  POLITICAL    SYSTEM,  NATIONAL    CHARAC 
TER,  CULTURE,  LITERATURE,  AND  RELIGION. 

IT  is  not  without  embarrassment,  and  an  urgent  request 
for  your  kind  indulgence,  that  I  appear  in  this  metropolis 
of  German  science  and  of  the  highest  intellectual  culture, 
to  give  you  a  miniature  picture  of  the  political,  social,  and 
religious  life  of  the  United  States  of  North  America. 
The  few  days  since  my  arrival,  the  distracting  excitements 
of  a  visit  to  my  beloved  German  fatherland,  and  the  daily 
greeting  of  so  many  dear  friends  after  a  ten  years'  sepa 
ration,  have  prevented  my  making  a  preparation  at  all 
worthy  of  my  theme.  But  though  I  cannot  do  anything 
like  justice  either  to  such  an  assembly,  as  I  have  the  honor 
to  see  before  me,  or  to  myself,  or  to  my  comprehensive 
subject,  I  have  at  least  the  no  small  advantage  of  beinS 
able  to  speak  not  merely  from  books,  but  from  life  ;  not  as 

2 


26  AMERICA. 

a  distant  spectator,  but  from  immediate  observation  and 
personal  experience,  respecting  a  land,  which  the  provi 
dence  of  God,  without  at  all  weakening  my  attachment 
for  Switzerland  and  Germany,  my  bodily  and  spiritual 
fatherland,  has  made  a  second  dear  home  to  me. 

America ! — I  feel  that  the  sound  of  that  word  leaves 
none  of  my  hearers  indifferent.  In  every  one,  not  confined 
to  the  narrow  circle  of  his  own  personal  existence  and  of 
his  particular  country,  but  interested,  as  every  man  of 
intelligence  and  cultivation  should  be,  in  the  future  history 
of  the  world  and  the  church,  the  name  of  America 
awakens  either  deep  sympathies  or  as  deep  antipathies, 
joyful  hopes,  or  desponding  fears,  or  perhaps  a  strange 
mixture  of  bright  anticipations  and  dark  forebodings. 
And  this  is  increasingly  so  every  year,  the  nearer  America 
and  Europe  are  brought  together  by  the  modern  space- 
mocking  means  of  communication,  and  the  more  strongly 
and  decisively  they  act  and  react  on  each  other.  For,  as 
the  eastern  hemisphere  sends  its  innumerable  thousands 
and  millions  in  swelling  tide  across  the  Atlantic ;  so  the 
new  world,  on  its  part,  is  perceptibly  gaining  influence,  be 
it  for  good  or  for  evil,  over  the  old.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  great  North  American  confederacy,  which  we  here 
have  particularly  in  view,  and  the  free  citizens  of  which 
call  themselves,  and  are  everywhere  called,  simply  Ameri 
cans  ;  as  if  anticipating  their  destiny  to  be  the  lords  of 
the  new  world.  Already  have  the  United  States  undeni 
ably  become  a  power  in  modern  history,  not  only  by  their 
commerce,  but  also  by  the  rise  of  an  independent  literature, 


INTEREST   OF    EUROPEANS    IN    AMERICA.  27 

by  the  weight  of  their  public  sentiment,  and  above  all  by 
the  example  of  their  political  and  religious  institutions ; 
and  their  influence  is  felt  more  and  more  every  year  in  the 
movements  of  Europe.  Nay  ;  they  have  already,  through 
the  promising  republic  of  Liberia,  put  their  hand  to  the 
civilizing  and  christianizing  of  Africa;  and,  through  evan 
gelical  missions  in  the  East  and  commercial  relations  with 
East  India,  China,  and  Japan,  to  the  regeneration  of 
Asia. 

To  this  general  interest,  which  all  educated  men  must 
feel  in  America,  add  the  personal  concern  of  thousands  in 
all  parts  of  Europe  for  sons  and  daughters,  brothers  and 
sisters,  kinsmen  and  friends,  who  have  exchanged  the  old 
world  for  the  new,  and  form  through  individuals,  so  many 
connecting  links  between  the  two. 

But  where  shall  I  begin,  and  where  shall  I  end  ?  The 
older  a  man  grows,  the  more  he  feels  the  difficulty  and 
risk  of  passing  general  opinions  on  whole  nations  and 
countries.  Every  vigorous  nation  is  a  microcosm,  repre 
senting  all  the  various  tendencies  and  diversities  of  our 
whole  race;  and  an  advance  in  wisdom  and  experience  is 
also  an  advance  in  caution  and  modesty  of  judgment. 
This  is  very  peculiarly  true  of  my  present  theme,  which 
has  elicited  the  most  contradictory  opinions,  according  as 
this  or  that  subordinate  point  has  been  made  the  criterion. 
I  would  remind  you  especially,  that  a  complete  picture  of 
the  condition  and  circumstances  of  America  properly 
includes  a  view  of  all  Europe,  which  transmits  both  good 
and  evil  forces  thither  from  all  her  countries.  In  the  time 


28  SIZE    AND    GROWTH. 

allotted  to  me  you  can  expect,  of  course,  only  a  very 
imperfect  sketch  ;  and  I  will  confine  myself  to  points, 
which  appear  to  have  special  interest  for  my  hearers,  and 
seem  fitted  to  remove,  or  at  least  to  soften,  certain  wide 
spread  prejudices,  which  I  have  already  had  frequent 
occasion  to  notice  during  my  short  visit  here. 

Allow  me  to  speak,  first,  of  the  size  and  growth  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America ;  secondly,  of  their 
political  condition  ;  thirdly,  of  their  social  state ;  fourthly, 
of  their  civilization  and  literature ;  and  lastly,  of  their 
morals  and  religion. 

I.    SIZE    AND    GROWTH. 

If  any  one  fact  of  modern  history  marks  an  epoch,  it  is 
the  discovery,  or  rather  the  re-discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus.  This,  with  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing 
about  half  a  century  before,  opened  an  illimitable  perspec 
tive  into  the  future.  But  both  these  events  derived  their 
chief  importance  from  the  vast  spiritual  and  intellectual 
movement  of  the  Reformation.  They  were  its  forerun 
ners  ;  as  now  the  great  inventions  of  the  steam-engine, 
the  railroad,  and  the  magnetic  telegraph  seem  to  be 
again  undesignedly  preparing  a  new  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  world  and  the  church,  a  general  union  of  the 
nations  in  one  brotherhood  by  the  bonds  of  civilization 
and  of  the  everlasting  Gospel.  The  States  of  Central  and 
South  America,  settled  by  Roman  Catholic  Spain  and 
Portugal,  have  remained  stationary  or  gone  backwards. 


EXTENT     OF    TERRITORY.  29 

But  North  America,  which  is  essentially  German  or 
Teutonic  in  nationality  and  Protestant  in  religion,  has 
developed  itself  with  unexampled  rapidity,  and  will 
become  in  fifty  years  more  of  such  progress,  nay,  is  already, 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  powerful  nations  of  the 
earth. 

The  United  States  date  their  independent  national 
existence,  as  is  well  known,  from  the  Declaration  "of  Inde 
pendence  in  1776.  They  are  accordingly  not  yet  a  century 
old.  At  that  time  there  were  thirteen  colonies;  now  there 
are  already  thirty-one  well  organized  states,  besides  a 
number  of  territories,  either  not  at  all  or  at  best  very 
thinly  inhabited,  which  will  easily  make  a  dozen  new 
states,  each  as  large  as  a  German  kingdom.  The  whole 
area  of  the  United  States,  since  the  late  acquisition  of 
Texas,  California,  and  New  Mexico,  amounts  to  more  than 
three  million  English  square  miles  (3,221,595), — almost  as 
much  as  the  whole  continent  of  Europe  (3,807,195),  and 
fifteen  times  larger  than  France  (197,400)  ;  while  in  variety 
of  soil,  climate,  productions,  and  natural  facilities  for 
commerce,  it  surpasses  any  other  equal  extent  of  country  on 
the  globe. 

The  population  has  increased  in  like  proportion.  About 
the  end  of  the  last  century  the  Union  had  hardly  three 
millions  of  inhabitants ;  now  it  numbers  already  five  and 
twenty  millions,  the  natural  increase  of  which  is  very  much 
favored  by  the  general  prosperity  and  early  marriage.  The 
growth  of  many  American  cities  is  almost  fabulous.  It 
exceeds  European  experience  ten  if  not  a  hundred  fold. 


30  NUMBER  AND   INCREASE    OF   POPULATION. 

Vienna  is  now  nearly  two  thousand  years  old,  and  has  not  as 
many  inhabitants  as  New  York  or  Philadelphia,  which  have 
existed  hardly  two  centuries.  Chicago  in  Illinois  was  com 
menced  in  1831,  and  already  numbers  over  60,000  souls. 
I  have  seen  it  stated  that  forty  years  ago  the  whole  ground, 
on  which  the  city  stands,  might  have  been  bought  for  $500, 
while  now  every  foot  almost  is  worth  more.  Before  1788 
there  was  hardly  a  white  man  seen  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio,  where  now  the  "  Queen  of  the  West,"  the  city  of 
Cincinnati,  stands  with  a  population  little  less  than 
150,000,  while  the  whole  State  of  Ohio  numbers  upwards 
of  two  millions. 

Such  an  unparalleled  growth  of  states  and  cities  rising 
from  the  ground  as  at  the  stroke  of  the  enchanter's  wand, 
can  only  be  accounted  for,  of  course,  by  the  swelling  tide  of 
immigration.  Hundreds  of  thousands  now  annually  leave 
the  various  countries  of  Europe,  especially  England,  Ireland, 
and  Germany,  for  America ;  and  latterly  an  emigration  has 
begun  in  an  opposite  quarter,  in  far  off  China,  which,  allured 
by  the  gold-diggings  of  California,  is  sending  from  the 
bosom  of  her  three  hundred  and  sixty  millions  an  increasing 
number  across  the  Pacific  to  the  marts  of  San  Francisco 
and  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento. 

We  have  before  us  here  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
important  facts  of  modern  times.  This  tide  of  emigration 
may  be  called  with  perfect  justice  a  migration  of  nations, — 
proceeding,  however,  in  the  most  peaceful  way,  without 
sword  or  bloodshed.  It  has  no  warlike  spirit  like  the 
advance  of  the  Germanic  tribes  on  the  threshold  of  the 


-.,.       IMMIGRATION.  31 

Middle  Ages;  it  is  not  the  work  of  religious  enthusiasm 
like  the  crusades ;  it  is  chiefly  the  result  of  individual  and 
domestic  want  and  discontent,  of  national  oppression  and 
misery  as  regards  Ireland,  and  of  the  desire  for  freedom,  and 
for  outward  and  inward  improvement.  With  the  Germans 
there  is  superadded  that  "Heimweh  nach  dem  All,"  that 
cosmopolitan  trait,  which  may  be  called  both  their  intel 
lectual  strength  and  their  political  weakness.  But  in  this 
vast  march  of  nations  from  east  to  west,  and  from  west  to 
east  we  must  recognize  above  all  the  progress  of  history 
itself  and  the  hand  of  an  over-ruling,  all  wise  Providence, 
who  is  here  breaking  new  paths,  as  he  did  two  thousand 
years  ago  in  Europe,  and  opening  new  and  boundless 
prospects  for  the  further  development  of  humanity  and  of 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  basis  of  the  population  of  North  America  is  the 
English  and  Scotch  emigration.  For  some  time  past  that 
of  Ireland  has  been  greater  than  that  of  all  the  other 
European  countries  put  together ;  so  as  already  to  be 
spoken  of  as  a  formal  exodus,  threatening  even  the  extinc 
tion  of  the  Celtic  race  and  of  Romanism  in  Ireland.  Now, 
however,  the  German  emigration  exceeds  the  Irish,  and 
will  do  so  probably  for  many  years  to  come.  Of  late  years 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  Germans  have  landed 
annually  at  the  port  of  New  York  alone ;  and  this  year,  I 
have  been  told  on  reliable  authority,  the  German  emigra 
tion,  on  account  of  the  gathering  storm  of  a  general 
European  war  (which  God  graciously  avert !)  in  addition 


32  ROOM     FOR    ALL. 

to  the  usual  causes,  might  reach  at  least  between  two  and 
three  hundred  thousand,  mostly  to  America.* 

Bid  them  God  speed,  and  -give  them  at  least  your 
blessing  and  your  prayers.  The  American  bids  them  all 
welcome ;  the  good  especially ;  but  even  the  bad  he  does 
not  reject,  hoping  that  in  the  new  world  they  will  become 
new  men,  and  not  confirm  the  old  adage :  "  Ccelum  non 
animum  mutant,  trans  mare  qui  currunt."  They  all,  and 
many  millions  more,  can  find  room  and  employment  in 
vast  and  still  uncultivated  tracts  of  the  most  fertile  soil  ;  in 
inexhaustible  mines  of  coal  and  iron,  of  which  Pennsylvania 
alone  is  supposed  to  contain  more  than  the  whole  continent 
of  Europe ;  on  numberless  canals,  steamboats,  and  railroads  ; 
in  the  building  of  villages  and  cities,  which  shoot  up  as  in 
a  dream,  so  that  names  fail,  and  old  ones  have  to  be 
repeated  often  to  confusion  ;  in  the  most  flourishing  com 
merce  and  business  of  all  sorts ;  and  in  the  bosom  of  a 
nation  full  of  the  boldest  enterprise  and  the  most  untiring 
energy. 

*  The  number  of  German  immigrants  at  the  port  of  New  York  alone  for  the 
year  1854,  was  179,648.  The  whole  number  of  immigrants  to  America  for  1S54, 
according  to  the  reports  laid  before  Congress,  was : 

To  the  United  States        .        .        .        460,474 
To  Canada        .        .        .       .        .      '  63,803 

Of  these  it  is  supposed,  225,000  were  Germans  ; 
118,000      «     Irish; 
61,000     "     English  and  Scotch ; 
13,000      "     French ; 
13,000     ««     Chinese  (to  California). 


WHAT   IMMIGRANTS    SHOULD    EXPECT.  33 

The  Atlantic  coast,  which  is  the  most  populous  part  of 
North  America,  and  has  thus  far  been  the  chief  theatre  of 
its  history,  and  already  has  cities  of  half  a  million  inhabi 
tants  and  more,  is  yet  very  thinly  settled  in  comparison 
with  the  countries  of  Europe.  The  Pacific  coast — Oregon 
and  California — has  hardly  yet  risen  into  the  view  of  the 
world,  and  has  room  for  whole  kingdoms.  And  the 
Mississippi  valley,  the  immensely  rich  river  tract  between 
the  Alleghany  and  Rocky  Mountains,  which  forms  the 
proper  body  of  the  United  States,  and  contains  now  hardly 
ten  million  inhabitants,  will  itself,  it  is  thought,  conveniently, 
support  a  population  of  more  than  a  hundred  millions. 

Only  one  thing  must  we  say  to  emigrants  :  Prepare  for 
all  sorts  of  privations;  trust  not  to  fortune  and  circum 
stances,  but  to  God  and  to  unwearied  industry.  If  you 
wish  a  calm  and  cheerful  life,  better  stay  at  home.  The 
good  old  advice  :  Pray  and  work,  is  nowhere  more  to  the 
point  than  in  the  United  States.  The  genuine  American 
despises  nothing  more  than  idleness  and  stagnation ;  he 
regards  not  enjoyment,  but  labor,  not  comfortable  repose,  but 
busy  unrest,  as  the  proper  earthly  lot  of  man  ;  and  this  has 
unspeakable  importance  for  him,  and  upon  the  .whole  a 
most  salutary  influence  on  the  moral  life  of  the  nation. 
The  New  York  merchant  is  vexed,  if  stopped  with  a. 
question  on  the  street;  because  he  loses  a  couple  of 
minutes.  The  same  zeal,  the  same  parsimony  of  time,  is 
employed  by  the  minister,  the  missionary,  the  colporteur, 
the  tract  and  bible  societies,  for  higher  ends.  Even  the 
business  man,  if  in  any  degree  religiously  disposed,  con- 

2* 


34         PROMISE  OF  THIS  RAPID  GROWTH. 

siders  his  pecuniary  gain  only  a  means  "  to  do  good  " — as 
he  expresses  it ;  and  though  the  Americans  are  not 
unjustly  reproached  with  avarice  and  covetousness,  yet 
they  are  entitled,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  praise  of  a 
noble  liberality  towards  all  sorts  of  benevolent  objects, — a 
liberality  unrivalled  in  modern  history  save  by  the  extra 
ordinary  offerings  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  in  the 
glow  of  her  first  love. 

In  view  of  the  extent  and  growth  of  the  United  States, 
thus  briefly  sketched, — a  growth  absolutely  without  parallel 
in  history ; — in  view  of  their  inexhaustible  resources  for 
agriculture,  commerce,  and  all  kinds  of  industry,  for  culture 
and  science,  and  all  the  arts  of  peace  ;  and  in  view  of  this 
modern  European  migration  to  the  land  of  the  west, — 
nothing  but  stupidity  can  be  indifferent,  and  nothing  but 
narrow-mindedness  can  deny  these  states  a  future. 

Even  geographically,  America  stands  as  in  some  sense 
the  "  Middle  Kingdom."  The  people  of  the  United  States, 
these  Americans  in  the  emphatic  sense  of  the  term,  have 
control  of  a  whole  continent  and  of  two  oceans,  one  arm 
outstretched  towards  Europe,  the  other  towards  Asia ;  and 
they  possess  ambition  and  energy  enough  to  turn  the 
advantages  of  their  position  and  relations  to  the  very  best 
account.  Unless  a  higher  hand  suddenly  stop  the  wheel  of 
universal  history,  they  have — even  in  the  possible  though 
not  probable  case  of  a  separation  into  four  republics, 
northern,  southern,  eastern,  western — a  tremendous  prob 
lem  to  solve;  and  no  friend  of  humanity  and  of  the  king 
dom  of  God  can  behold  without  the  deepest  interest  the 


POLITICAL     CONDITION.  35 

further  development  of  this  land  of  freedom  and  of  pro 
mise, 

II.    POLITICAL    CONDITION. 

In  their  political  constitution  the  United  States  actually 
present  the  picture  of  a  new  world.  In  Europe  all  civil 
institutions  rest  more  or  less  on  the  feudal  system  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  as  these  again  rest  on  the  patriarchal  relations 
of  Asia.  The  further  west,  the  stronger  the  tendency  to 
individual  and  national  freedom  and  independence.  This 
is  especially  the  case  in  the  Germanic  tribes  ;  and  of  these, 
most  of  all  in  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Favored  by  its  insular 
segregation,  moulded  by  Christianity  and  by  Protestantism.' 
England  has  most  fully  developed  the  principle  of  self- 
government  as  the  foundation  of  national  strength  and 
greatness  for  all  nations,  and  now  presents  the  sublime 
spectacle  of  an  organic  union  of  freedom  and  deeply-rooted 
loyalty  ;  of  manly  independence  and  faithful  conservatism  ; 
of  a  well-organized  constitutional  monarchy,  not  artificial 
on  paper,  but  of  perfectly  natural  historical  growth,  joined 
with  a  civil  and  commercial  power,  which  reaches  off  to 
Canada,  Australia,  and  East  India,  and  carries  into  all  the 
colonies  the  spirit  of  law-abiding  freedom  and  the  seed  of 
the  Gospel  and  of  Christian  civilization. 

In  North  America  the  last  traces  of  medieval  feudalism 
disappear,  except  in  the  slavery  of  the  southern  states. 
You  see  there  no  king  ;  no  nobility  ;  no  privileged  class  ; 
no  aristocracy,  except  that — unavoidable  even  in  a  republic — 
of  character,  talent,  and  wealth ;  no  orders  nor  titles,  except 


36         DISAPPEARANCE    OF   ALL    FEUDALISM    IN    AMERICA. 

the  professional,   which   rest   upon  personal   attainments  \ 
no  entailed  estates ;    no  standing   army ;    no   established 
church.     Instead  of  these   you  find   universal    civil    and 
religious   liberty  and    equality ;    unrestricted   freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press ;  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  ; 
the  election   of  almost  all  officers  by  the  majority ;  the 
highest  stations,  even  the  presidential  chair,  accessible  to 
the  poorest  ancUhumblest  citizen,  on  the  single  condition  of 
personal  capacity  and  merit :  and  yet,  with  all  this  appa 
rent  excess  of  freedom,  a  universal  respect  for  right  and 
law  ;  deep  reverence  for  Christianity  ;  a  conservative  spirit ; 
well-ordered  government ;  perfect  security  of  person   and 
property ;    and    great   independence,    too,    towards   other 
nations,  as  was  shown  by  the  Mexican  war,  where  glowing 
patriotism  and  national  pride  supplied  in  a  few  weeks  the 
want  of  a  standing  army,  threw  hosts  of  volunteers  into  the 
heart  of  their  hostile  neighbors'  country,  achieved  victory 
after    victory  over   the  Spaniards,  and    planted   the  star- 
spangled  banner  of  the  Union  on  the  palace  of  Montezuma. 
To  those  who  are  wedded  to  a  particular  theory  of 
politics,  who  apply  the  same  measure  to  all  countries  and 
all  constitutions,  and  who  fail  to  see,  that  history  is  not  a 
dead  uniformity,  but  a  living  scene  of  change  and  variety, 
and  that  every  nation  has  its  peculiar  calling, — to  such  all 
this    must    be   very  incongruous    and   disagreeable    fact. 
But  fact  it  is,  and  with  facts  and  an  actual  state  of  things 
we  here  have  to  do.     Though  a   Swiss  by  birth  and  an 
American  by  adoption,  I  have  yet  lived   too  long  under 
monarchies  to  be  at  all  insensible  to  their  historical  neces- 


REPUBLICANISM     NATURAL    TO     AMERICA.  37 

sity  and  great  advantages.  I  have  no  sympathy  whatever 
with  the  narrow,  fanatical  republicanism  of  "  Young  Ame 
rica"  and  the  radical  propagandism  of  the  "  manifest  des 
tiny"  men,  who  see  no  salvation  for  Europe  but  in  the 
universal  spread  of  republican  institutions,  and  are  there 
fore  disposed  to  welcome — though  certainly  in  ignorance — 
even  the  worst  revolutions,  coming  from  the  very  spirit  of 
darkness.  But  unhistorical,  useless,  nay,  absurd  as  it  would 
be  to  transplant  American  institutions  bodily  to  European 
soil,  I  think,  on  the  other  hand,  that  for  the  United  States 
themselves  only  one  form  of  government  is  reasonable  and 
proper  :  and  that  is,  the  republican.  In  fact,  no  other  would 
be  possible  under  present  circumstances.  It  has  there  all 
traditions  and  sympathies  in  its  favor.  It  grows  out  of  the 
whole  history  and  the  present  mission  of  the  country. 
Under  it  the  nation  has  become  large  and  strong ;  under  it 
she  can  best  develop  her  physical  and  moral  resources  ; 
under  it  she  feels  contented  and  happy.  Whence,  indeed, 
could  a  king  for  America  come  ?  Certainly  not  from  Europe  ; 
for  on  the  east  and  west  the  republic  has  an  ocean-barrier 
against  any  successful  invasion  ;  and  from  north  or  south 
she  is  made  impregnable  by  her  own  inward  force.  No 
monarch  could  arise,  except  as  a  military  despot  and  usurper, 
like  Napoleon,  out  of  bloody  civil  wars,  and  from  such  a 
one  Christianity  and  good  sense  we  hope  will  save  us. 

But  though  the  American  constitution  rests  on  a  ground 
work  wholly  different  from  all  European  systems,  and 
thus  forms  an  entirely  rrew  phenomenon  in  the  history 
of  the  world ;  'yet  it  did  not  come  into  life  by  any 


38  POLITICAL    CONDITION. 

means  abruptly  and  without  preparation.  It  stands  in  the 
closest  historical  connection  with  England.  The  Ame 
rican  revolution  of  1776,  which  gave  birth  to  the  indepen 
dent  confederacy,  was  entirely  different  in  principle,  char 
acter,  and  tendency  from  all  the  revolutions  of  the  European 
continent  since  1789  ;  and  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  keep  this  difference  steadily  in  view,  if  we  would  duly 
understand  and  appreciate  that  country  and  its  prevailing 
idea  of  freedom.  The  American  revolution  has  far  more 
affinity  with  the  rising  of  the  German  nation  against  the 
usurpation  of  Napoleon,  and  of  the  Greeks  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  Turks.  Properly  speaking,  it  was  no  revo 
lution  at  all,  in  the  sense  of  insurrection  and  radical  over 
throw  of  all  social  relations.  It  was  strictly  and  only  an 
emancipation — forcible,  indeed,  but  historically  necessary — 
of  colonies  which  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  self-government 
from  the  guardianship  of  the  mother  country,  which  had 
become  unnecessary  and  oppressive.  Language,  customs, 
religion,  laws,  and  institutions  remained  substantially  the 
same,  and  were  changed  only  in  form  and  so  far  as  the  new 
state  of  things  required.  The  English  common  law  and 
the  whole  judicial  process  is  retained  to  this  day  as  before 
the  revolution.  In  the  place  of  the  hereditary  monarch 
came  a  president,  chosen,  it  is  true,  every  four  years  by  the 
people,  but  clothed  with  proportionally  as  much  power  and 
influence  as  the  queen  of  England,  and  in  some  respects 
with  more.  In  the  place  of  Parliament  came  Congress, 
with  its  two  branches,  the  Senate, — corresponding  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  representing  in  general  the  conservative 


CHARACTER   OF  THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION.  39 

principle, — and  the  House  of  Representatives,  answering  to 
the  English  House  of  Commons,  and  more  progressive  in  its 
reigning  spirit. 

The  fathers  and  leaders  of  the  American  struggle  for  free 
dom — excepting  Tom  Paine,  the  English  Voltaire,  who, 
however,  by  bis  infidelity,  vices,  and  vulgar  habits  soon  lost 
all  influence,  and  was  thrust  out  of  all  decent  American 
society — were  anything  but  radical  reformers  or  wild 
destructionists,  like  the  heroes  of  the  French  and  German 
revolutions.  They  were  men  of  sound  practical  judgment, 
of  decidedly  liberal,  and  yet  sober,  conservative,  and 
constitutional  views,  and  of  the  most  honorable,  moral,  and 
in  some  instances  even  decidedly  religious  character. 
From  the  first  settling  of  the  country,  especially  among  the 
Puritanic  New  Englanders,  a  very  strong  practical  religious 
spirit  maintained  itself,  and  prevented  the  national  progress 
from  running  into  the  wild  extravagances  of  radicalism. 
George  Washington,  the  noblest  embodiment  of  the  Ame 
rican  revolution — or  rather  secession  from  England, — the 
"  father  of  his  country,"  "  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  revered  from  Maine 
to  Florida,  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  as  a  sort  of 
national  god, — was  a  perfectly  disinterested  patriot,  a  mild, 
noble-minded,  plain,  modest  man,  of  irreproachable  and 
symmetrical  character,  not  of  very  profound  knowledge  of 
religion,  but  sincerely  reverencing  the  holy  word  and  law 
of  God ;  a  worthy  and  consistent  communicant  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  holding  private  devotion 
daily  in  his  library,  kneeling  and  praying  over  the  Bible. 


40  POLITICAL    CONDITION. 

His  successors  in  the  presidency,  down  to  Pierce,  who  regu 
larly  attends  public  worship — a  practice,  which  in  the 
United  States  is  almost  inseparable  from  moral  and  social 
respectability, — need  not  fear  comparison  in  a  moral  and 
religious  point  of  view  with  any  dynasty  of  Europe.  The 
greatest  American  statesmen  and  orators  have  on  various 
occasions  thrown  the  weight  of  their  voice  into  the  scale  of 
virtue  and  piety,  and  have  repeatedly  and  emphatically 
declared  that  Christianity  is  the  groundwork  of  their 
republic,  and  that  the  obliteration  of  the  church  must 
involve  the  annihilation  of  all  freedom,  and  the  ruin  of  the 
land.  You  seldom  hear  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  however 
badly  it  may  occasionally  behave  in  other  respects,  a  word 
of  disrespect  to  religion  ;  and  whenever  one  is  uttered,  it  is 
commonly  repelled  with  indignation.  But  you  may  some 
times  hear  there  an  open  confession  of  the  fundamental 
truths  of  revelation.  Every  session  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  is  opened  with  prayer  ;  while  a  proposi 
tion  for  the  same  arrangement  in  the  Frankfort  parliament 
of  1848  was  rejected  with  scorn.  No  wonder  the  Scripture 
was  there  verified  :  "  Except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they 
labor  in  vain  that  build  it."  The  renowned  statesman  and 
orator,  Henry  Clay,  on  his  death-bed  in  1852,  confessed  that 
he  had  tried  the  glories  of  earth  and  found  them  all  vanity, 
and  that  he  sought  peace  and  salvation  only  in  Christ  cruci 
fied.  His  great  rival,  Daniel  Webster,  the  American  De 
mosthenes  who  in  the  grand  simplicity  of  his  style  betrays 
the  study  of  the  Bible,  found  in  his  last  hours  the  greatest 
comfort  in  the  23rd  Psalm  of  David,  the  "  rod  and  the  staff" 


FATE    OF   FUGITIVE    REVOLUTIONISTS    IN    AMERICA.        41 

of  the  good  shepherd,  died  in  1852,  with  a  prayer  for  for 
giveness  on  his  lips,  and  ordered  for  his  epitaph  the  words 
of  Scripture:  "Lord,  I  believe;  help  thou  my  unbelief!" 
Such  testimonies  from  such  mouths,  have  in  America  the 
weight  of  a  mighty  sermon,  and  of  a  sacred  legacy  to  the 
whole  nation. 

Such  things  explain  the  well-known  fact,  that  the 
modern  European  heroes  'of  liberty,  or  rather  of  licentious 
ness — too  many  of  whom  have  unfortunately  been  sent 
adrift  upon  us  by  the  abortive  revolutions  of  1848 — 
become  mightily  undeceived  in  America,  and  begin  at 
once,  in  beer-houses  and  infidel  journals,  to  scoff  at  the 
intolerable  tedium  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  the  pharisaical 
church-going,  the  tyrannical  priestcraft,  and  whatever  else 
they  may  call  the  pious  habits  and  institutions  of  the 
United  States.  They  find  themselves  exceedingly  uncom 
fortable,  and  would  fain  come  back  again  to  kindle  revolu 
tions  in  Europe,  which  they  cannot  kindle  in  America. 
Most  of  these  radicals,  who  a  few  years  ago  made  such  a 
noise  in  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  have  there  sunk  to 
mere  cyphers,  or  have  become  at  best,  common  citizens, 
who  earn  their  livelihood  with  their  own  hands,  and  have 
first  to  build  up  a  character,  before  they  can  claim  any 
influence  or  importance. 

The  only  revolutionary  character,  who  really  made  a 
great  stir,  was  Kossuth.  During  his  half-year's  residence 
in  America,  as  the  "  guest  of  the  nation,"  he  delivered 
several  hundred  English  and  some  German  addresses  ; 
and  by  his  rare  gift  of  agitation,  and  his  certainly  most 


42  POLITICAL     CONDITION. 

remarkable  eloquence,  even  in  a  foreign  tongue,  he  won  the 
admiration  of  thousands.  But  the  history  of  his  meteor- 
like  rhetorical  campaign  through  the  States  of  the  Union 
may  be  told  in  the  few  words  :  "  He  rose  like  a  rocket 
and  fell  down  like  a  stick."  When  he  came  back  to  New 
York,  where  he  had  been  received  a  few  months  before 
with  frantic  enthusiasm,  he  attracted  no  attention  ;  and 
unnoticed,  and  even  under  the  alias  of  Alexander  Smith, 
he  returned  to  England  to  retire  into  a  private  house  in 
one  of  the  suburbs  of  London.  The  best  proof  of  the 
total  failure  of  his  mission,  is  the  fact,  that  the  Ame 
rican  government  still  adheres  as  firmly  as  ever  to  the  wise 
policy,  previously  observed,  and  so  earnestly  recommended 
by  Washington  and  the  dying  Clay,  of  non-intervention  in 
the  broils  of  the  European  powers ;  though  Kossuth 
expended  the  most  brilliant  efforts  of  his  inexhaustible 
forensic  oratory,  to  turn  this  policy  to  an  active  interference 
in  favor  of  all  European  revolutions,  especially  of  a  new 
insurrection  against  the  house  of  Hapsburg  in  Hungary, 
which  he  predicted  as  near  at  hand  ;  and  in  this  neutral 
course  the  government  will  persevere,  though  at  this 
moment  the  Russo-Turkish  question  affords  the  most 
favorable  of  all  occasions  for  departing  from  it  and  for 
asserting  the  influence  of  America  in  the  councils  of  the 
great  powers  of  Europe.  The  general  government  at 
Washington,  which  manages  our  international  affairs, 
rightly  prefers  to  stand  on  a  friendly  footing  with  all 
European  states ;  to  offer  all  a  free  asylum  for  their  over 
flowing  or  oppressed  population ;  and  to  operate  upon  the 


AMERICAN   IDEA   OF   FREEDOM.  43 

old  world,  not  by  the  rude  power  of  arms  and  by  gratuitous 
intermeddling,  but  solely  by  the  silent,  though  far  deeper 
and  worthier  moral  power  of  example.* 

The  whole  Anglo-American  conception  of  freedom  is 
specifically  different  from  the  purely  negative  notion  which 
prevails  amongst  the  radicals  and  revolutionists  on  the 
continent  of  Europe.  With  the  American,  freedom  is 
anything  but  a  mere  absence  of  restraint,  an  arbitrary, 
licentious  indulgence,  every  one  following  his  natural 
impulse,  as  the  revolutionists  would  have  it.  It  is  a 
rational,  moral  self-determination,  hand  in  hand  with  law, 
order,  and  authority.  True  national  freedom,  in  the  Ame 
rican  view,  rests  upon  a  moral  groundwork,  upon  the 
virtue  of  self-possession  and  self-control  in  individual 
citizens.  He  alone  is  worthy  of  this  great  blessing  and 
capable  of  enjoying  it,  who  holds  his  passions  in  check  ; 


*  The  appointment  of  Saunders  as  consul  for  London,  and  of  Soul6  as 
ambassador  to  Madrid,  can  hardly  be  adduced  as  indication  of  a  foreign-inter 
vention  policy  and  an  aggressive  revolutionary  propagandisui.  For  the  first  was 
expressly  rejected  by  the  Senate,  and  the  second,  although  confirmed  by  that 
body,  met  the  decided  disapprobation  of  public  opinion  and  was  freely  con 
demned  as  an  unprovoked  insult  upon  Spain,  and  an  impolitic  measure  of  the 
Administration.  It  is  well  known  that  the  fiery  advocate  of  Cuban  Filli- 
busterism,  after  the  failure  of  his  efforts  to  buy  or  to  steal  the  Pearl  of  the 
Antilles,  resigned  at  the  end  of  last  year  and  is  already  replaced  by  the  Hon. 
Caesar  Augustus  Hannibal  Dodge,  who  will  not  prove  as  formidable  as  his  name 
sounds.  It  would  be  the  greatest  injustice  to  judge  the  United  States  by  their 
diplomatic  representatives  abroad.  While  some  of  them  by  their  intelligence 
and  dignity  challenge  the  esteem  of  foreign  nations,  not  a  few  others  bring 
only  disgrace  or  ridicule  upon  our  good  name.  It  were  best  either  to  send  such 
men  to  European  courts  as  are  really  fit  for  the  station  and  will  mind  their 
proper  business,  or  to  give  up  the  diplomatic  intercourse  altogether. 


44  POLITICAL    CONDITION. 

is  master  of  his  sensual  nature ;  obeys  natural  laws,  not 
under  pressure  from  without,  but  from  inward  impulse, 
cheerfully  and  joyfully.  But  the  negative  and  hollow 
liberalism,  or  rather  the  radicalism,  which  undermines  the 
authority  of  law  and  sets  itself  against  Christianity  and 
the  church,  necessarily  dissolves  all  social  ties,  and  ends  in 
anarchy  ;  which  then  passes  very  easily  into  the  worst  and 
most  dangerous  form  of  despotism. 

These  sound  views  of  freedom,  in  connection  with  the 
moral  earnestness  and  the  Christian  character  of  the 
nation,  form  the  basis  of  the  North  American  republic, 
and  can  alone  secure  its  permanence.  We  also  find  there, 
indeed,  beyond  all  question,  utterly  unsound  and  dangerous 
radical  tendencies ;  in  the  political  elections  all  wild 
passions,  falsehood,  calumny,  bribery,  and  wickedness  of 
all  sorts,  are  let  loose  ;  and  even  the  halls  of  the  legislatures 
and  of  Congress  are  frequently  disgraced  by  the  misconduct 
of  unprincipled  demagogues,  so  that  multitudes  of  the 
best  citizens,  disgusted  with  the  wire-pulling  and  mean 
selfishness  of  self-styled  friends  of  the  people,  shrink  from 
any  active  participation  in  politics,  or  discharge  their  duty 
as  citizens  by  nothing  more,  at  most,  than  their  vote  at  the 
ballot-box.  But  on  the  whole,  there  prevails  undeniably 
among  the  people  a  sound  conservative  tone,  which  exerts 
a  constant  influence  in  favor  of  right  and  order;  and  it  is  an 
imposing  spectacle,  when  immediately  after  the  election  of  a 
president  or  governor,  a  universal  calm  at  once  succeeds 
the  furious  storm  of  party  strife,  and  the  conquered  party 
patiently  submits  to  the  result,  never  dreaming  of  such  a 


TEMPERANCE     MOVEMENT.  45 

thing  as  asserting  its  real  or  supposed  rights  in  any  violent 
way.  Any  dissatisfaction — for  such  certainly  has  place 
there  as.  well  as  elsewhere — reaches  never  to  the  republican 
form  of  government,  but  only  to  the  manner  of  its  exer 
cise,  not  to  the  constitution  of  the  land,  but  only  to  the 
measures  of  the  dominant  party ;  and  it  seeks  redress  of  its 
wrongs  always  in  a  lawful,  constitutional  way.  So  far  as 
this  goes,  it  may  well  be  asserted,  that  the  North  Ameri 
can  Union,  with  all  the  fluctuation  and  insecurity  of  its 
affairs  in  particular  instances — which  is  to  be  expected  in 
so  new  a  country — stands  in  general  more  firmly  on  its 
feet,  and  is  safer  from  violent  revolutions,  than  any  country 
on  the  continent  of  Europe. 

A  very  characteristic  proof  of  our  assertion,  that 
American  freedom  is  different  in  principle  from  radi 
calism  and  licentiousness,  and  rests  entirely  on  the 
basis  of  self-control  and  self-restraint,  is  presented  in 
the  really  sublime  temperance  movement,  particularly 
in  the  "  Maine  liquor  law,"  as  it  is  called.  This 
law  wholly  forbids,  not  directly  the  drinking — for  this 
would  be  an  infringement  of  personal  liberty, — but  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  all  intoxicating  drinks,  including 
even  wine  and  beer,  except  for  medicinal,  mechanical, 
and  sacramental  purposes.  This  law  was  first  introduced 
a  few  years  ago  in  the  predominantly  Puritanical,  New 
England  State  of  Maine,  and  has  since  been  extended  to 
several  other  states  by  a  popular  majority  ;  and  even  in  the 
great  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  the 
most  zealous  efforts  are  now  making  by  public  addresses, 


46  POLITICAL    CONDITION; 

by  tracts  and  periodicals,  and  other  means  of  agitation,  to 
secure  the  election  of  legislators  favorable  to  the  temperance 
cause,  who  will  strike  at  the  root  of  the  terrible  evil,  and 
remove  even  the  temptation  to  drunkenness.*  Even  last 
fall,  shortly  before  the  election,  I  was  personal  witness  of 
the  zeal  and  earnestness,  with  which  the  agents  of  the 
temperance  society,  ministers  and  laymen,  canvassed  the 
counties  of  Pennsylvania,  and  spreading  their  tent  under 
the  open  heaven,  after  a  solemn  introduction  by  singing 
and  prayer,  eloquently  described  the  horrible  consequences, 
temporal  and  eternal,  of  intemperance,  and  demonstrated  to 
the  people  by  the  most  convincing  arguments,  the  duty  of 
using  their  elective  franchise  in  a  way  demanded  by  the 
public  weal,  in  the  consciousness  of  their  high  responsibility 
to  God  and  the  world. 

It  must  be  granted  that  this  Maine  temperance  law, 
in  itself  considered,  goes  too  far,  and  is  to  be  ranked 
with  radical  legislation.  It  contradicts  the  letter  of  the 
Bible ;  for  it  is  a  fact,  that  Christ  himself  turned  water  into 
wine,  drank  wine  according  to  the  general  custom  of  the 
time,  used  it  for  the  illustration  of  the  most  sacred  things, 
and  consecrated  it  in  the  holy  Supper,  as  the  symbolical 
vehicle  of  his  atoning  blood.  But  on  the  other  hand 
what  St.  Paul  says  of  abstinence  from  meat,  is  equally 

*  Since  the  above  was  written  the  Maine  law  has  even  passed  the  Legislatures 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  (in  April,  1855),  and  is  to  go  into  effect  on  the 
fourth  of  July  of  this  year.  Think  of  the  law  as  you  please.  This  is  one  of  the 
greatest  marvels  of  self-restraining  popular  legislation,  and  we  would  admire  it 
still  more,  had  it  not  been  mixed  up  with  politics,  which  in  its  present  state 
seems  to  spoil  whatever  it  touches,  whether  men  or  things. 


TEMPERANCE   MOVEMENT.  47 

applicable  to  beverage :  "If  wine  make  my  brother  offend, 
I  will  drink  no  wine  while  the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make 
my  brother  to  offend."  The  moderate  American  tem 
perance  men  take  the  position  not  of  abstract  right  in  the 
case,  but  of  present  expediency  and  moral  necessity  under 
existing  circumstances.  For  it  must  be  considered,  that 
the  United  States  have  hardly  begun  to  produce  their  own 
wine,  and  that  most  of  what  is  there  sold  under  this  name, 
is  more  or  less  adulterated  and  fully  as  injurious  as  brandy. 
Yet,  think  of  the  "Maine  liquor  law"  as  we  may, — and  we 
would  here  neither  advocate  nor  condemn  it, — we  must 
admire  the  moral  energy  and  self-denial  of  a  free  people, 
which  would  rather  renounce  an  enjoyment  in  itself  lawful, 
than  see  it  drive  thousands  of  weak  persons  to  bodily  and 
spiritual  ruin. 

To  those,  who  see  in  America  only  the  land  of  unbridled 
radicalism  and  of  the  wildest  fanaticism  for  freedom,  I  take 
the  liberty  to  put  the  modest  question  :  In  what  European 
state  would  the  government  have  the  courage  to  enact  such 
a  prohibition  of  the  traffic  in  all  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
the  people  the  self-denial  to  submit  to  it  ?  I  am  sure, 
that  in  Bavaria  at  least  the  prohibition  of  bier  would 
produce  a  bloody  revolution ;  for  "  der  schrecklichste  der 
Schrecken,  das  ist  der  Bayer  ohne  Bier." 

Time,  of  course,  does  not  permit  me  to  enter  into  a  more 
detailed  analysis  of  the  American  constitution ;  the  relation 
of  the  central  government  in  Washington  to  the  rights  and 
governments  of  the  several  states;  the  composition  of  con 
gress  and  of  the  legislatures  *,  the  duties  of  the  president 


48  SLAVERY. 

and  the  organization  of  his  cabinet ;  the  differences  of  the 
two  parties,  "Whigs  and  Democrats,  into  which  the  great 
nation  has  heretofore  been  divided,  and  the  principles  of  the 
the  new  party  of  Know-Nothings  which  is  just  now  sweep 
ing  over  the  country  like  a  whirlwind  ;  the  nature  of  the 
popular  elections;  the  courts;  juridical  and  parliamentary 
eloquence ;  &c.  But  on  one  point  I  must  add  at  least  a 
few  words ;  viz.,  on  slavery.  This  prevails,  indeed,  only 
in  the  Southern  States,  but,  by  the  union  of  these  States 
with  the  Northern  in  one  confederacy,  it  is  made  a  national 
matter ;  and  latterly,  especially'  through  the  unparalleled 
circulation  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  cabin,"  which  gives  substan 
tially  a  tolerably  true  picture  of  life  in  the  slave  States,  it 
has  engaged  also  in  a  high  degree  the  attention  of  Europe. 
Slavery  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  political  and  social 
difficulty  of  the  Union.  It  keeps  up  a  constant  agitation  ; 
throws  the  apple  of  discord,  year  after  year,  into  Congress 
and  even  into  whole  churches;  and  in  1850  brought  us  to 
the  brink  of  a  formal  division  of  the  Republic.  The  leaders 
of  the  two  great  political  parties — Clay  and  Webster  among 
the  Whigs,  Cass  and  Buchanan  among  the  Democrats — at 
that  time  exerted  all  the  power  of  their  eloquence  and 
statesmanship  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  u  Compromise 
Measures,"  as  they  are  called,  and  thus  save  the  Union^ 
But  the  agitation  on  this  subject  still  continues  in  state  and 
church ;  has  broken  out  anew  this  winter  in  the  stormy 
debate  in  Congress  on  the  Nebraska  bill ;  and  will  only  be 
abated  with  the  abatement  of  the  evil  itself.  That  there 
are  in  the  United  States  over  three  millions  of  negro  slaves, 


PARTIES    ON   THE    SLAVERY    QUESTION.  49 

who  may  be  bought  and  sold  as  common  merchandize,  is 
certainly  in  most  palpable  contradiction  to  the  first  principle 
of  that  government,  that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal ; 
or,  as  it  should  be  more  properly  expressed,  are  born  or 
destined  for  freedom.  What  an  anomaly,  that  the  freest 
country  in  the  world  should  maintain  and  defend  a  relic  of 
barbarism  and  heathenism,  which  humanity  and  Christi 
anity,  reason  and  revelation,  and  all  the  civilized  nations  of 
Europe  condemn  with  one  voice  !  But  when  and  how  this 
social  evil,  not  introduced  by  the  national  American  govern 
ment  itself,  but  inherited  from  the  colonial  period,  rooted  in 
the  heart  of  the  land,  and  interwoven  with  all  the  material 
interests  of  the  South,  is  to  be  done  away,  is  one  of  the  most 
difficult  questions,  which  statesmanship  has  ever  had  to  solve. 

On  the  subject  of  slavery  the  Union  is  divided  into  three 
principal  parties : 

(1.)  The  Abolitionists  of  the  North,  especially  of  New 
England,  who  regard  slavery  as  sin  per  se,  and  insist  on  its 
immediate  abolition.  These,  however,  fall  again  into  two 
very  different  branches ;  some  proceeding  on  Christian 
principles,  while  others  run  into  the  most  radical  excesses, 
even  in  other  matters ;  "  women's  rights,"  for  example,  and 
open  infidelity, — and  thus  do  the  cause  more  harm  than 
good. 

(2.)  The  Secessionists  of  the  South,  especially  of  South 
Carolina,  who,  embittered  by  the  unsparing  attacks  of  the 
Abolitionists,  threatened  Congress  in  1850  with  secession 
from  the  Confederacy,  and  the  formation  of  a  southern 
republic  of  their  own.  Many  of  these  advocate  slavery  as 

3 


50  POLITICAL   CONDITION. 

a  necessary  social  counterpoise  to  the  democracy  of  the 
North,  as  a  conservative  element ;  appealing  to  the  inefface 
able  difference  between  the  African  and  the  Caucasian 
races,  the  miserable  condition  of  the  freed  negroes,  and 
even  to  the  Holy  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  to 
the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Philemon. 

(3.)  The  Union  party  in  North  and  South.  This  is  by  far 
the  most  numerous,  made  up  of  both  whigs  and  democrats. 
These,  from  motives  of  patriotism  and  interest,  would  main 
tain  the  Union  at  all  hazards,  and  leave  slavery  to  the 
legislation  of  the  slave  states  themselves,  and  to  its  fate. 
Most  of  them  believe  that  slavery  will  gradually  die  out  of 
itself,  and  that,  in  any  case,  a  sudden  emancipation,  without 
previous  education  of  the  slaves,  would  be  rather  an  injury 
than  a  benefit  to  them. 

Die  out  it  assuredly  will  in  time,  as  it  has  done  in  all 
the  northern  states ;  and  perhaps  it  would  have  already 
disappeared  in  Maryland  and  Kentucky,  but  for  the  aboli 
tion  agitation,  which  has  called  forth  a  violent  reaction 
against  the  unsparing  condemnation  of  slave-holders.  Thus 
much,  however,  seems  to  me  clear,  from  the  philanthropic 
and  Christian  point  of  view ;  that  the  state  and  the  church 
ought,  in  a  quiet  way,  and  without  infringement  of  the 
right  of  property,  to  provide  for  a  gradual  emancipation  of 
the  slaves,  by  training  them  to  the  rational  use  of  freedom, 
and  by  laws  for  the  liberation  of  the  new  generation  at  a 
certain  ajxe. 

O 

But  even  in  case  of  a  general  abolition  of  slavery,  it  is 
still  a  question  of  great  difficulty,  whether  the  African  race 


THE    COLONIZATION   MOVEMENT.  51 

can  at  all  stand  by  the  side  of  the  Caucasian  in  full  equality, 
amalgamate  with  it,  and  enter  fully  into  its  destiny.  Even 
in  the  free  states  there  is  confessedly  an  impassable  gulf 
between  the  whites  and  the  free  blacks,  and  even  the  most 
zealous  abolitionist,  after  all  his  talk  about  the  absolute 
equality  of  all  men,  would  never,  for  any  price,  consent  to 
marry  a  negress.  I  doubt  whether  an  Englishman  or  a 
German  would.  The  condition  of  the  free  negroes  in 
America  is  in  general  more  pitiable,  and  not  seldom  worse 
than  that  of  their  brethren  in  bondage  at  the  south,  at  least 
where  these  are  carefully  provided  for  by  Christian  masters 
— of  whom,  thank  God,  there  are  not  a  few — and  are  so 
kindly  treated,  that  in  many  cases  they  will  not  accept 
freedom  when  it  is  offered.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that 
duty  as  much  requires  the  northern  states  to  improve  by 
wise  laws  and  charitable  institutions  the  social  condition  of 
the  free  negroes,  and  to  raise  them  to  the  dignity  of 
genuine  humanity,  as  it  demands  of  the  southern  states  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves. 

Thus  far,  I  see  but  one  luminous  point  in  the  tragic 
gloom  of  slavery ;  and  that  is  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  and  its  offspring,  the  negro  republic  of  Liberia,  on 
the  west  coast  of  Africa.  In  this  colony,  which  has  thus 
far  made  altogether  unexpected  progress,  and  which  has  its 
warmest  and  most  liberal  patrons  in  the  southern  states, 
and  among  the  slave-holders  themselves,  there  is  at  least, 
the  beginning  of  a  radical  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
the  negroes,  and  at  the  same  time  the  groundwork  of  a 
general  Christian  civilization  for  the  wild  negro  tribes 


52  NATIONAL   CHARACTER   AND   SOCIAL   LIFE. 

around,  in  a  land  whose  climate  the  Caucasian  race  cannot 
bear,  any  more  than  the  negroes  amongst  the  whites  can, 
to  all  appearance,  sustain  an  equal  social  importance  and 
dignity  with  them.  Thus  God  seems  here  also  to  be  giving 
a  new  proof  of  his  wonderful  wisdom,  which  can  bring^  good 
even  out  of  evil.  By  Christian  and  civilized  negroes  he 
is  kindling  in  the  heart  of  that  terra  incognita  the  light  of 
the  everlasting  Gospel,  and  is  thus  turning  the  dreadful 
curse  of  American  slavery — that  grievous  crime  of  European 
and  American  Christendom  (for  it  was  under  Spanish, 
French,  Danish,  and  English  rule  that  slavery  came  into 
the  New  world) — into  an  incalculable  blessing  to  the 
pagan  savages  of  Africa. 

III.    NATIONAL    CHARACTER   AND    SOCIAL    LIFE. 

The  United  States  present,  in  the  first  place,  a  wonderful 
mixture  of  all  nations  under  heaven.  A  tour  through  them 
is  in  some  sense  a  tour  through  the  world,  and  therefore 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  journeys  one 
can  make,  who  would  see  the  confused  motions  of  the  living 
present,  rather  than  the  rich  treasures  of  the  dead  past ; 
though  of  the  latter,  Italy,  for  example,  that  flower-crowned 
mausoleum  of  history,  affords  infinitely  more.  In  America, 
English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Germans  of  all  provinces,  Swiss, 
Dutch,  French,  Spaniards,  Italians,  Swedes,  Norwegians, 
Poles,  Magyars,  with  their  well-known  national  virtues  and 
weaknesses,  have  peaceably  settled  down  together  in  poli 
tical  and  social  equality.  And  to  these  representatives  of 


OBSOLETE   EUROPEAN   PECULIARITIES.  53 

European  nations  are  added  the  red  aborigines  of  the 
country,  who  are  constantly  retreating  further  into  the 
forests  and  prairies  of  the  West,  and,  in  spite  of  all  attempts 
to  Christianize  and  civilize  them,  are  steadily  approaching 
the  tragical  fate  of  self-extermination  by  intestine  wars, 
contagious  diseases,  and  the  poison  of  rum.  Then  the 
black  sons  of  Africa,  rejoicing  in  the  childlike  cheerfulness 
of  their  nature,  and  even  in  freedom  bowing  instinctively 
before  the  superiority  of  the  whites.  Lastly,  the  yellow 
immigrants  from  the  Celestial  Empire,  attracted  by  the  gold 
of  California,  and  bringing  with  them  their  oblong  eyes, 
their  quiet  disposition  and  mechanical  culture,  their  indus 
try,  avarice,  and  filthy  habits. 

Thus  we  have  in  America  an  ethnographic  panorama, 
which  one  may  see  pass  before  him  in  a  few  hours  on  a 
walk  through  Broadway  in  New  York,  or  Chestnut  street 
in  Philadelphia,  or  along  the  markets  of  San  Francisco. 

Not  only  the  nationalities  of  the  Old  World,  however,  but 
even  national  peculiarities  of  condition,  manners,  and  habits, 
obsolete  in  their  native  lands,  there  perpetuate  themselves 
to  this  day  in  many  instances  with  remarkable  tenacity. 
In  Virginia  you  meet  the  English  gentleman  of  the  age  of 
Elizabeth  and  the  later  Stuarts ;  in  Philadelphia,  the  Quaker 
of  the  days  of  George  Fox  and  William  Penn ;  in  East 
Pennsylvania,  the  Palatine  and  the  Swabian  of  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century ;  in  New  England,  the  Puritan  of  the 
times  of  Cromwell  and  Baxter ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson 
and  in  New  Jersey,  the  genuine  Hollander ;  on  the  shores 
of  the  Northern  lakes  hundreds  of  Scotch,  so  that  a  traveller 


54  NATIONAL   CHARACTER. 

from  the  country  of  Burns  "  at  the  Kirk  on  Sabbath  would 
hardly  ken  he  were  frae  hame;"  in  South  Carolina,  the 
Huguenot  and  French  nobleman  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
or  at  least  very  striking  traces  of  their  character,  which  in 
Europe  are  even  far  more  obliterated.  This  fact  itself 
shows,  how  cautiously  one  must  receive  'the  accounts  of  so 
many  European  tourists,  which  take  some  single  element 
by  itself,  and  make  it  the  standard  for  the  whole ;  thus 
producing  the  most  contradictory  representations. 

But  now  what  is  most  remarkable  is,  that  over  this 
confused  diversity  there  broods  after  all  a  higher  unity, 
and  that  in  this  chaos  of  peoples  the  traces  of  a  specifically 
American  national  character  may  be  discerned.  Those, 
who-  find  in  the  United  States  only  the  faint  echo  of 
European  nationalities,  and  so  feel  obliged  to  deny  that 
country  an  independent  future  in  history,  are  very  much 
mistaken.  Whoever  treads  the  soil  of  the  New  World  with 
open  eyes,  perceives  at  once  a  thoroughly  fresh  and 
energetic  national  life,  which  instantly  takes  up  and 
assimilates  all  foreign  elements,  excepting  only  the 
African  and  the  Chinese.  The  American's  digestive 
power  is  really  astonishing.  How  many  thousands  and 
millions  of  Europeans  has  his  stomach  already  received ! 
and  yet  he  has  only  grown  firmer  and  healthier  thereby. 

The  basis  of  the  American  nationality  is  undoubtedly 
English,  though  unquestionably  a  peculiar  modification  of 
it,  possessing  much  greater  capacity  than  the  original  for 
receiving  and  working  up  foreign  material.  To  gain  a 
clear  conception  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  one  must  travel 


ANGLO-SAXOX    STRENGTH    OF    CHARACTER.  55 

to  England,  Scotland,  and  North  America.  If  he  sees  the 
Englishman  only  abroad,  he  meets  him  in  the  most  un 
favorable  circumstances.  An  Englishman  on  the  continent 
is  like  a  fish  out  of  water.  He  commonly  retains  his  well- 
known  spleen,  and  by  his  stiff  awkwardness  and  his 
obstinate  adherence  to  his  peculiar  insular  notions  and 
habits,  even  down  to  his  favorite  tea-kettle,  beaf-steak,  and 
plum-pudding,  presents  without  question  a  ludicrous  aspect, 
so  that  a  spectator  must  wonder,  how  this  strange  John 
Bull  could  obtain  the  dominion  of  the  seas.  The  like  is 
true,  though  not  so  strikingly,  of  the  American.  But  what 
seems  their  weakness  abroad — seems,  I  say,  for  with  all 
their  stiffness  and  strangeness  one  cannot  help  respecting 
and  admiring  them  on  other  accounts — that  very  thing  is 
their  strength  at  home.  The  Anglo-Saxon  and  Anglo- 
American,  of  all  modern  races,  possess  the  strongest 
national  character  and  the  one  best  fitted  for  universal 
dominion,  and  that,  too,  not  a  dominion  of  despotism 
but  one,  which  makes  its  subjects  free  citizens.  For  they 
are  at  once  liberal  and  conservative.  In  them — and  this  is 
the  secret  of  their  national  greatness  and  importance — the 
impulse  towards  freedom  and  the  sense  of  law  and  order  are 
inseparably  united,  and  both  rest  on  a  moral  basis.  Con 
science  and  the  sense  of  duty  are  very  strongly  marked 
in  them,  and  I  doubt  whether  the  moral  influence  of 
Christianity  and  of  Protestantism  has  more  deeply  and 
widely  affected  any  nation,  than  it  has  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
It  is  characteristic,  that  the  word  "  glory,"  which  occurs  in 
almost  every  sentence  of  Napoleon's  proclamations  and 
bulletins,  never  appears  in  the  despatches  of  Wellington, 


56  ANGLO-SAXON    STRENGTH    OF    CHARACTER. 

but  gives  place  to  the  term  "  duty."  Gloire  is  the  motto 
of  the  Frenchman ;  duty,  of  the  Englishman.  Napoleon* 
at  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids,  fired  the  ambition  of  his 
soldiers  with  the  cry :  "  Centuries  look  down  upon  you  1" 
Nelson  at  Trafalgar  simply  reminded  his  seamen :  "  Eng 
land  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty  to-day !" 

Mental  energy  and  solidity  the  AflgloSaxons  have  in  com 
mon  with  tfie  Germans ;  both  being  in  fact  off-shoots  from 
the  same  Teutonic  root.  But  whilst  in  the  latter  this 
mental  power  turns  inward,  and  occupies  itself  with 
thought  and  theory,  in  the  former  it  is  rather  directed 
outward,  concerning  itself  in  a  practical  way  with  will  and 
action.  The  one  has  the  deeper  mind,  and  can  take  up 
and  comprehend  everything  in  himself;  the  other  has  the 
stronger  character,  and  can  shape  and  organize  everything 
out  of  himself.  The  German  excels  in  the  facility  of  trans 
ferring  himself  into  all  circumstances  and  adapting  himself 
to  all,  and  thus  very  often  loses  himself  in  foreign 
nationalities ;  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  stiff  and  unyielding,  but 
makes  everything,  as  of  itself,  serve  him.  The  former  is 
the  most  cordial  and  good-natured  man  of  the  world,  giving 
free  play  to  his  warm,  hearty  feelings  and  impulses;  the 
latter  has  a  heart  indeed,  but  it  beats  under  a  marble  cover  ; 
he  has  perfect  self-command,  and  is  therefore  best  fitted  to 
rule  others.  True,  he  puts  no  hindrance  in  the  way  of  the 
stranger ;  he  gives  him  perfect  freedom,  within  the  whole 
some  limits  of  the  law.  Yet  he  exerts  upon  him  a  vast 
power  and  an  attractive  force,  which  cannot  be  ultimately 
resisted. 

The  American  has  the  same  organizing  talent,  the  same 


PECULIARITIES    OF   AMERICAN    CHARACTER.  57 

self-control,  the  same  practical  energy,  the  same  business 
faculty,  as  the  Englishman.  His  spirit  of  enterprise  is  still 
stronger,  and  not  rarely  degenerates  even  into  fool-hardiness 
and  the.  most  reckless  disregard  of  human  life,  fearfully 
manifest  in  the  countless  conflagrations  in  cities,  and 
disasters  on  steamboats  and  railroads. 

The  American,  I  grant,  has  less  solidity  than  the  much 
older  Englishman.  But  he  makes  up  for  this  in  vivacity, 
elasticity,  and  capacity  for  improvement.  The  Englishman, 
too,  is  shut  up  on  his  island ;  the  American  moves  on  a 
great  continent  and  between  two  oceans.  The  former  has 
not  yet  been  able  to  assimilate  to  itself  the  Celtic  Irishman 
in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  nor  thoroughly  to  redress 
his  grievances ;  the  latter,  at  once  infuses  into  the  immi 
grant  the  common  feeling  of  the  American. 

But  though  the  main  features  of  the  American  national 
character  may  be  already  quite  plainly  discerned,  and 
reveal  themselves  as  predominantly  Anglo-Saxon  ;  yet  it  is 
only  in  its  formation  state  ;  and  the  more  it  developes,  the 
more  sensibly  do  the  un-English  elements,  favored  by  the 
increasing  emigration  from  the  continental  countries  of 
Europe,  modify  the  whole.  In  New  York  the  Hollanders 
— *the  first  settlers — in  Louisiana  the  French,  can  never  be 
wholly  obliterated.  Least  of  all,  the  Germans,  who,  with 
their  descendants,  must  already  number  four  millions  and 
upwards.  Even  now,  the  middle  and  western  States,  in 
which  most  of  the  Germans  have  settled,  differ  very 
perceptibly  in  character,  from  New  England  and  the 
southern  States.  As  they  lie  between  the  two  geographi- 

3* 


58      RELATION   OF   GERMAN   AND   AMERICAN   CHARACTERS. 

cally,  so  they  hold  a  middle  place  also  in  a  natural  and 
social  point  of  view.  Pennsylvania,  for  example — the 
Keystone  State,  as  it  is  called,  which  binds  together  the 
giant  structure  of  the  Union — is  neither  purely  English 
nor  purely  German,  but  Anglo-German  ;  and  will  become 
more  and  more  so.  Even  where  the  German  lanmiao'e  is 

O          O 

swallowed  up  by  the  English,  the  German  disposition  and 
German  ways  still  maintain  themselves  under  the  new 
dress,  and  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  German  Adam  rises 
not  rarely  an  American  gentleman,  who  unites  the  excel 
lencies  of  the  German  and  the  Englishman  in  beautiful 
harmony.  Beyond  all  question  the  German  has  a  great 
work  to  do  in  the  New  World,  though  he  is  as  yet  hardly 
aware  of  it.  He  will  not  fully  meet  the  demand,  however, 
if  he  coldly  and  stiffly  shut  himself  out  from  the  Anglo- 
Americans,  and  think  to  form  a  state  within  a  state.  This 
would  be  the  most  unwise  policy,  and  would  unavoidably 
end  in  a  failure.  He  must  rather,  by  his  native  cosmo 
politan,  universal  spirit,  boldly  and  energetically  master 
the  Anglo-American  nature,  appropriate  its  virtues,  and 
then  breathe  into  it,  as  far  as  it  may  be  desirable,  the 
breath  of  his  own  spirit  and  life.  In  this  way  he  will 
work  in  a  larger  and  richer  field ;  whereas  by  seldsh 
seclusion,  he  robs  himself  of  all  influence  on  the  cen 
tral  stream  of  the  American  life.  If  the  land  of  the 
Reformation  has  furnished  the  ideal  part,  the  heart's  blood, 
of  the  modern  European  history  of  the  world  and  the 
church,  its  literature  and  better  class  of  emigrants  have 
a  similar  mission  also  for  the  United  States  of  America. 


NATIONAL    CHARACTER    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE.  5(J 

Then  let  the  oddities  and  weaknesses — in  a  word,  the 
whole  long  cue  of  the  raw  German — the  cue  in  front,  too, 
which  seems  to  have  become  fashionable  since  1848 — let 
all  these  go,  if  only  his  virtues,  his  depth  of  mind  and  of 
heart,  may  remain,  and  be  enriched  and  quickened  with  the 
undeniable  energy  and  practical  turn  of  the  Anglo-Ameri 
can.  The  German  and  English,  too,  mix  much  easier 
than  other  nations.  They  are  both,  in  fact,  essentially 
Germanic  or  Teutonic.  They  have,  in  common,  a  certain 
simplicity  and  honesty  of  character,  a  deep-rooted  respect 
for  woman,  love  for  home  and  the  family  life,  especially 
moral  earnestness  and  a  religious  turn  ;  and  even  the  eccle 
siastical  life  has  taken  a  like  course  in  them,  the  two 
being  the  chief  supports  of  the  ideas  and  institutions 
of  evangelical  Christianity,  and  holding  in  their  hands 
the  theoretical  and  practical  mission  of  Protestantism  for 
the  world.  Their  duty,  therefore,  where  they  are  brought 
by  Providence  into  immediate  contact,  and  meet  in  all  the 
relations  of  social  life,  cannot  possibly  be  to  hate  and  fight 
one  another;  it  must  bo  to  esteem,  and  love,  and  learn 
from  one  another,  and  contribute  to  each  other's  perfec 
tion. 

The  English  national  character  itself  is,  like  the  Eng 
lish  language,  confessedly  the  result  of  an  organic  combi 
nation  of  the  British-Celtic,  the  Anglo-Saxon,  or  Ger 
manic,  and  the  Norman-French  nationalities ;  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  however,  plainly  forming  the  proper  stem,  upon 
which  the  Norman  was  grafted  in  the  twelfth  century  ;  as, 
in  fact,  the  fundamental  elements  of  the  English  language, 


60  LUXURY    OF   HIGH    LIFE    IN    AMERICA. 

all  the  words  for  the  most  essential  relations  of  human 
life,  are  of  German  origin. 

A  similar  process  of  national  amalgamation  is  now 
also  going  on  before  our  eyes  in  America ;  but  peacefully, 
under  more  favorable  conditions,  and  on  a  far  grander 
scale  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  world  America 
is  the  grave  of  all  European  nationalities  ;  but  a  Phenix 
grave,  from  which  they  shall  rise  to  new  life  and  new 
activity  in  a  new  and  essentially  Anglo-Germanic  form. 

The  English  influence,  of  course,  predominates  in  Ame 
rica,  not  only  in  language,  but  also  in  the  whole  social 
life ;  but  it  is  greatly  modified,  partly  by  influences  from 
continental  Europe,  partly  by  the  political  institutions  of 
America  itself.  The  further  west,  and  the  newer  the  coun 
try,  the  more  unformed  and  changeable  is  the  state  of 
society  ;  and  on  the  frontiers,  and  in  uncultivated  regions, 
the  rudest  state  of  nature  sometimes  appears.  In  Califor 
nia,  for  example,  with  all  its  gold,  I  would  not  live  for  any 
price.  Every  thing  there  is  still  in  chaotic  confusion  ; 
though  even  in  this  State  the  indestructible  Anglo-Ameri 
can  sense  of  law  and  order  already  shows  itself  energetic 
ally  among  the  people.  Lately,  for  example,  the  authori 
ties  being  too  cowardly  to  do  their  duty,  the  people 
took  the  punishment  of  certain  offenders  into  their  own 
hands,  and  executed  "  Lynch  law "  upon  them.  In  the 
larger  States  of  the  west,  however,  and  especially  in 
the  east  and  south,  we  find  well-ordered,  respectable,  and 
cultivated  society.  The  interior  arrangements  of  a  house 
commonly  afford  every  thing  that  the  Englishman  denotes 


DANGERS    OF    IT.  61 

by  the  untranslatable  word  "  comfort " — carpets  in  tlio 
rooms,  on  the  stairs,  and  in  the  hall ;  a  parlor,  with  sofas, 
piano,  cushioned  rocking-chairs,  a  centre-table,  covered 
with  illustrated  works,  the  latest  ladies'  journals,  &c. 
After  the  English  plan,  each  family  occupies  a  house  by 
itself,  which,  at  least  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns,  has 
generally  a  garden  attached.  Many  of  the  larger  cities 
even,  as  New  Haven  and  Cleveland,  are  charmingly 
arranged,  almost  every  house  having  an  inclosed  green  in 
front,  planted  with  trees  and  flowers,  so  that  the  streets 
present  the  delightful  aspect  of  a  garden  promenade. 
The  smaller  towns  are,  in  general,  much  handsomer, 
the  streets  wider  and  straighter,  the  houses  more  inviting 
and  convenient,  than  in  Europe.  And  in  the  principal 
cities,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  "Wash 
ington,  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans,  all  European  luxury  is 
making  only  too  rapid  and  perilous  progress.  Had  not 
New  York  so  many  churches  and  Christian  societies,  and 
so  strictly  kept  Sundays,  it  might  already  be  called  a 
second  Paris,  which  it  will  soon  be  also  in  point  of  popu 
lation.  * 

In  the  lead  of  this  luxury  stand  sometimes  the  most 
disgusting  forms  of  a  mushroom  aristocracy,  which  rests 
upon  nothing  but  the  dust  of  gold.  These  American  fops 
and  quack-aristocrats,  who,  void  of  all  true  nobility,  have 
no  sense  for  any  thing  but  outward  show,  are  not  rarely 
met,  to  our  shame,  in  European  capitals  and  watering- 
places,  striving  to  outdo  the  polite  world  in  vanity  and 
folly.  I  heard  but  yesterday,  for  example,  that  the  son  of 


62  GENERAL    CULTURE. 

a  New  York  merchant-prince  in  the  Berne  Highlands, 
where  everybody  goes  on  foot,  if  possible,  to  enjoy  and 
admire,  con  amorc,  the  sublimity  of  the  mountain  scenery, 
was  driving  around  everywhere  with  two  horses,  to  show 
the  English  lords  and  Russian  nobles  right  visibly  his 
pecuniary  superiority.  It  is  characteristic  that  the  two 
largest  and  most  princely  mansions  in  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  were  built  by  quacks  (Dr.  Townsend  and  Dr. 
Jay ne)  out  of  the  proceeds  of  their  sarsaparilla.  Whether 
the  enormous  increase  of  luxury,  and  worldly  pomp,  and 
splendor,  will  gradually  undermine  the  Republic,  whose 
proper  foundation  is  the  patriarchal  style  of  simplicity  and 
honesty,  time  must  tell.  At  any  rate  the  flourishing  com 
merce  and  growing  wealth  of  the  country  involves  great 
danger  of  a  bottomless  materialism  and  worldliness  ;  and  I 
see  in  Christianity  alone  the  powerful  corrective,  which  has 
thus  far  saved  the  higher  intellectual  and  moral  interests, 
and  which  will  secure  to  them  in  future  the  predominance 
over  the  "  almighty  dollar."  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  how 
ever,  that  wealth  hardly  ever  continues  to  the  third  genera 
tion  in  the  States,  and  that  all  this  artificial  aristocracy 
soon  runs  out.  The  middle  classes  are  there,  more  than  in 
any  other  country,  the  proper  bone  and  sinew  of  society, 
and  always  restore  the  equilibrium, 

Social  life  in  America  is  in  some  respects  freer,  in 
others  stiffer,  than  in  Europe.  Much,  that  is  not  at  all 
offensive  there,  is  rudeness  to  the  European ;  and  the 
American,  in  turn,  is  greatly  scandalized  with  things  which 
in  the  Old  World  are  innocent  customs.  It  were  unjust  and 


GENERAL   CULTURE.  63 

pedantic  to  make  such  mere  externals  the  standard  of 
judgment  respecting  the  people.  The  old  proverb  here 
holds  true  :  So  many  countries,  so  many  customs.  So 
highly  and  liberally  cultivated  society,  as  is  found  for 
instance  here  in  Berlin,  where,  to  speak  without  flattery, 
one  may  spend  every  evening  in  the  -most  stimulating  and 
agreeable  conversation,  with  ladies  as  well  as  with  gen 
tlemen,  on  matters  of  science  and  art  and  all  the  higher 
affairs  of  life,  is,  I  grant,  very  rarely  met  with  in  America. 
Female  education  especially  is,  in  general,  very  superficial 
there,  valued  more  for  outward  show  than  for  inward  solid 
ity  ;  and  in  many  companies  of  which,  judging  from 
appearance,  one  would  expect  better  things,  you  sometimes 
hear  for  a  whole  evening,  hardly  anything  but  the  flattest 
and  most  insufferable  gossip  about  the  weather,  the 
fashions,  and  the  latest  projects  of  marriage.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  there  is  more  of  a  kind  of  medium 
cultivation  than  in  Europe,  where  accomplishment  is 
aristocratic,  or  confined  to  certain  classes.  The  United 
States  is  the  country  for  average  intelligence,  average 
morality,  and  average  piety.  Republican  institutions,  as 
may  even  be  observed  to  some  extent  in  Switzerland,  tend 
to  level  away  social  distinctions.  In  America,  while  there 
are  not  so  many  towering  heights  of  culture,  there  is, 
on  the  other  hand,  no  such  wide-spread  and  degrading 
ignorance  as  in  the  masses  of  Europe.  There  almost 
every  one  tries  to  become  a  gentleman  or  a  lady ;  that  is, 
to  attain  the  English  ideal  of  outward  and  inward  intellec 
tual  and  moral  culture,  so  far  as  his  circumstances  and 


64  THE   YANKEE   CHARACTER. 

position  allow.  Almost  every  man  has  some  routine,  at 
least  outwardly ;  lie  can  represent  something ;  he  reads 
gazettes  and  newspapers ;  knows  how  to  talk  sensibly 
about  the  general  affairs  of  his  country ;  and  can,  if  neces 
sary,  make  a  speech,  and  generally  turn  his  knowledge  to 
good  practical  account. 

The  Yankee  especially — that  is,  the  New  Englander — has 
a  natural  business  genius,  and  can  undertake  anything.  He 
can  begin  and  make  a  fortune  easier  with  one  idea,  than  a 
German  can  with  ten.  His  mottoes  are  :  "  Help  yourself," 
and  "  Go  ahead."  He  early  becomes  independent,  and 
even  in  youth  learns  to  push  through  all  possible  difficul 
ties.  Hence  the  Jews  hardly  play  any  part  in  America; 
they  find  their  masters  in  the  Yankees.  It  must  not  be 
thought,  however,  that  these  descendants  of  the  old  Puri 
tans  are  made  only  of  shrewd,  selfish  calculation.  It  would 
be  the  greatest  injustice  to  take  the  famous  Barnum,  the 
prince  of  humbug,  as  the  only  type  of  the  "universal 
Yankee  nation."  They  are  generally  liberal,  conscientious, 
temperate,  strictly  moral,  religiously-inclined,  friends  of 
liberal  education,  and  ardent  philanthropists.  The  six 
north-eastern  States,  included  under  the  name  of  New 
England,  especially  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  are 
still,  in  regard  to  culture  and  Christianity,  the  garden  of 
America. 

Domestic  life  in  the  United  States  may  be  described  as, 
on  an  average,  well  regulated  and  happy.  The  number  of 
illegitimate  births  is  perhaps  proportionally  less  than  in  any 
other  country.  Divorces  are  very  rare,  and  are  made  by 


NATIONAL   CHARACTER   AND   SOCIAL   LIFE.  65 

the  laws  far  more  difficult  than,  for  example,  in  Prussia. 
This  is  the  good  effect  of  the  laws  of  old  England,  which 
has  practically  made  divorce  almost  impossible,  by  requir 
ing  for  it  an  act  of  Parliament,  and  therefore  an  enormous 
outlay  of  money.  True,  the  American  family  life  is  not 
characterized  by  so  much  deep  good-nature,  and  warm, 
overflowing  heartiness,  as  the  German.  But  instead  of  this 
the  element  of  mutual  respect  predominates.  Husband 
and  wife,  parents  and  children,  stand  more  independently 
towards  one  another,  in  a  respectful  dignity,  and  thus  avoid 
many  collisions.  When  the  partners  speak  of  each  other 
in  the  third  person,  it  is  not  commonly  by  the  familiar 
names:  My  husband,  My  wife,  but  by  the  family  name 
with  Mr.  or  Mrs.  prefixed,  or  by  the  official  title.  In  fact, 
even  in  direct  address  the  wife  not  unfrequently  gives  her 
husband  his  title  of  Doctor,  Professor,  &c.,  particularly  in 
company. 

The  American's  profound  respect  for  the  female  sex  is 
well  known.  This  old  Germanic  trait,  celebrated  so  early 
as  by  Tacitus,  has  most  fully  developed  itself  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  is  very 
favorable  to  domestic  and  public  morality.  Whoever  is 
acquainted  with  family  life  in  England,  knows  how  high 
and  dignified  a  position  woman  holds  there,  and  how  much 
is  comprehended  in  the  term  lady.  America  goes  yet  a 
step  further.  It  is  sometimes  called  woman's  paradise.  I 
take  it,  indeed,  that  this  earthly  life  is  a  paradise  neither 
for  ladies  nor  for  gentlemen,  but  for  both  a  purgatory,  to 
purify  them  for  heaven.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  in  the 


G6  FAMILY   RELIGION, 

United  States  woman  is  exempt  from  all  hard  labor  (ex 
cept  perhaps  among  the  immigrants,  who  keep  their  for 
eign  customs,  and  in  new  settlements,  say  in  Texas,  or  "Wis 
consin,  or  Oregon,  where  circumstances  demand  the  strength 
of  all  hands) ;  that  she  can  travel  unattended,  from  one 
end  of  the  vast  country  to  another,  without  being  molested 
in  the  least ;  that  in  the  steamboats,  the  great  hotels,  and 
public  places,  she  finds  her  own  saloons,  sometimes  ex 
tremely  elegant,  and  all  possible  conveniences,  and  has  the 
precedence  in  every  company.  It  is  characteristic,  also, 
that  in  America  one  must  address  a  mixed  audience,  not 
as  "  Gentlemen  and  Ladies,"  as  in  all  other  languages,  but  in 
the  reverse  order,  as  "  Ladies  and  Gentlemen."  Of  course 
this  respect  for  woman  requires  monogamy  as  its  indispen 
sable  groundwork ;  and  it  is  one  main  reason  why  the 
Mormons,  who  are  charged,  you  are  aware,  with  polygamy, 
are  so  hated  there,  and  have  been  banished  even  by  force 
from  the  territory  of  the  organized  States.  They  will 
never  make  many  proselytes  among  the  Americans,  and 
they  are  accordingly  now  directing  their  missionary  efforts 
almost  entirely  abroad. 

The  crown  of  the  American  family  life,  and  one  of  the 
strongest  proofs  of  the  power  of  Christianity  over  the 
people,  is  table-prayer,  which  is  almost  universal ;  and  daily 
family  worship,  which  is  the  rule  at  least  in  religious  cir 
cles,  and  is  proportionally  more  frequent  there,  than  in  any 
other  country,  except  perhaps  England  and  Scotland.  The 
ultimate  effects  of  this  pious  custom  on  children  and  chil 
dren's  children  are  incalculable ;  -and  it  must  go  well  with 


SCIENCE   AND   LITERATURE.  61 

a  people,  where  the  father  feels  it  his  duty  and  his  joy  to 
gather  the  members  of  his  household  every  morning  around 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  their  daily  bread  of  life,  and  to  bow 
with  them  before  the  throne  of  the  Almighty,  and  implore 
His  blessing  on  the  labors  of  the  day. 


IV.    SCIENCE    AND    LITERATURE. 

It  were  extremely  unfair  and  unreasonable,  to  demand 
of  a  country  so  young  as  America  the  same  degree  of  sci 
entific  and  sesthetic  culture,  as  of  those  countries  of  the 
Old  World,  which  have  risen  through  a  history  of  thousands 
of  years  to  the  height  of  modern  civilization.  Rather 
must  one  greatly  wonder,  that  in  two  hundred  years  since 
the  settlement  of  New  England,  with  which  the  history  of 
North  America  began,  that  country  has  even  advanced  so 
far  in  this  respect.  We  should  never  ungratefully  forget, 
indeed,  that  it  had  an  enormous  capital  to  rest  upon  and 
start  with,  in  the  results  of  the  two  thousand  years  develop 
ment  of  Europe.  Yet  there  remains  reason  enough  for 
amazement  at  the  uncommon  energy,  activity,  and  assiduity 
displayed  by  the  Americans  even  in  the  sphere  of  science 
and  literature.  It  is  ignorance  or  calumny,  which  pictures 
them  so  often  as  a  purely  materialistic  race,  estimating  a 
man  only  by  his  money.  They  have,  on  the  contrary,  the 
liveliest  interest  in  all  branches  of  higher  intellectual  cul 
ture,  and  show  it  sometimes  by  a  truly  princely  liberality. 
There  are  instances  in  New  England  of  single  individuals 
giving  of  their  own  accord  hundreds  of  thousands  to  estab- 


68  SCIENCE   AND   LITERATURE. 

lisli  scientific  institutions.  Were  this  noble  liberality  to  be 
found  among  the  Germans  of  America,  we  should  long  ago 
have  had  in  Pennsylvania  a  complete  German  university, 
which  would  compare,  not  indeed  in  its  faculties — for  these 
require  time — but  in  outward  resources,  with  the  venerable 
scientific  foundations  of  Europe. 

The  general  tendency  in  America  is  to  the  widest  possi 
ble  diffusion  of  education  and  the  multiplication  of  institu 
tions.  This  is  in  keeping  with  the  republican  system  of 
liberty  and  equality.  Hence  the  large  and  rapidly  increas 
ing  number  of  colleges,  seminaries,  academies,  and  literary 
associations.  Every  little  synod,  or  even  every  little  town, 
must  have  its  own  little  seminary  or  other  little  quasi  sci 
entific  institution.  Of  course,  then,  these  are  often  accord 
ingly.  Depth  and  thoroughness  by  no  means  go  hand  in 
hand  with  extension.  Even  among  the  professors  in  the 
higher  institutions  there  is  a  surprising  amount  of  superfi 
ciality,  joined  commonly  with  learned  vanity  and  magnilo 
quence.  For  superficial  knowledge  puffs  up,  while  thor 
ough  knowledge  humbles.  Profound  scientific  culture 
must  necessarily  always  be  the  property  of  the  few.  A 
world  of  only  scholars  could  never  stand  a  day.  Never 
theless  that  tendency  to  the  widest  possible  diffusion  of  a 
certain  grade  of  education  cannot  be  restrained  in  such  a 
country  as  America,  and  it  has,  after  all,  its  favorable 
aspect. 

I  will  speak  first  of  the  institutions  and  appliances  of 
education. 

1.  Elementary  education  has  now  been  in  great  part 


OBJECTIONS    TO    STATE    SCHOOLS.  69 

taken  charge  of  by  the  several  States  ;  still  leaving  parents, 
however,  a  perfect  right  to  send  their  children  to  private 
schools.  All  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  and  other  States,  have  adopted  a  general  free-school 
system,  partly  after  the  much  admired  Prussian  model, 
which  offers  even  to  the  poorest  and  meanest  the  rudiments 
of  knowledge.  In  fact,  you  will  very  rarely  find  one  in 
New  England,  who  cannot  read  and  write,  and  who  does 
not  besides  know  something  of  the  public  affairs  of  the 
country.  A  peculiar  phenomenon  is  the  great  number  of 
female  teachers.  Among  these  are  particularly  distin 
guished  the  "  Yankee  girls,"  who  know  how  to  make  their 
way  right  successfully  everywhere  as  teachers ;  as  in  Europe 
the  governesses  from  French  Switzerland. 

Latterly,  the  Koman  clergy  in  New  York  and  other 
States  have  been  making  a  systematic  effort  to  overthrow 
the  State  schools,  because  the  Protestant  influence  which 
prevails  in  them  imperceptibly  draws  away  the  youth  from 
their  church.  But  the  agitation  has  miscarried  ;  it  has 
only  made  Romanism  more  unpopular,  and  confirmed  the 
old  charge  against  her  of  hostility  to  general  education. 

These  public  schools,  however,  as  now  constituted,  have 
assuredly  their  great  defects.  Though  commonly  opened 
with  singing  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  yet  they  do  not 
duly  provide  for  the  proper  moral  and  religious  education 
of  the  children,  without  which  secular  culture  can  do  little 
good.  True,  there  are  everywhere,  along  with  the  State 
schools,  Sunday  schools,  as  they  are  called,  where  the  chil 
dren  receive  gratuitous  instruction  in  Bible  history  and 


70  COLLEGE    EDUCATION. 

the  catechism,  from  male  and  female  members  of  the 
church,  who  give  themselves  to  this  useful  labor  of  love  in 
disinterested  zeal  for  the  good  cause.  Yet,  after  all,  inva 
luable  as  these  are,  and  benignly  as  they  have  operated, 
they  do  not  seem  wholly  to  supply  the  need.  Hence  pro 
minent  men,  in  Protestant  confessions,  have  likewise  taken 
a  stand  against  these  public  elementary  schools,  and  are 
working  for  the  establishment  of  parochial  schools,  in 
direct  connection  with  the  church,  to  train  the  youth  not 
only  for  time,  but  also  for  eternity. 

2.  The  higher  education  is  begun  in  academies,  as  they 
are  called — i.  e.  classical  schools — and  continued  in  col 
leges.  The  latter  answer,  in  some  cases,  to  the  higher 
classes  in  the  German  gymnasium  and  lyceum  ;  in  others, 
they,  at  the  same  time,  correspond,  in  some  degree,  to  a 
university,  not  only  requiring  a  classical  preparation,  and 
embracing  almost  everything  that  does  not  pertain  to  some 
special  department,  but  also  have  from  the  State  legislatures 
power  to  confer  all  academic  degrees.  The  age  of  college 
students  varies  from  sixteen  to  thirty  years.  A  university, 
in  the  full  German  sense  of  the  word,  America  properly  as 
yet  has  not.  The  idea  of  one  has  lately  been  suggested 
by  very  influential  men,  and  will  perhaps  in  time  be  car 
ried  out.  Such  an  institution  there,  however,  would  pro 
bably  have  to  be  without  a  theological  faculty,  on  account 
of  the  rivalship  among  so  many  churches  and  sects  ;  and 
a  university  without  theology — that  regina,  scientiarum — 
is  without  its  animating  soul  and  its  ruling  head.  The 
nearest  approach  to  a  proper  university  is  in  the  colleges 


AMERICAN    COLLEGES.  71 

at  Cambridge,  Mass.  (Harvard  University),  New  Haven, 
Conn.  (Yale  College),  and  the  University  of  Virginia.  In 
these  institutions  schools  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine, 
are  connected  with  the  literary  department.  But  a  philo 
sophical  faculty  is  still  wanting.  All  the  philosophy 
taught  in  them  is  embraced  in  the  proper  collegiate  or 
gymnasia!  course.  But  while  philological,  historical,  and 
metaphysical  studies  are  not  carried  so  high  and  deep  as 
in  Germany,  the  natural  and  practical  sciences  receive 
greater  attention.  Several  colleges  have  within  a  few 
years  past  added  a  special  department  under  the  name  of 
scientific  schools,  which  correspond  somewhat  to  the  poly 
technic  institutions  of  Europe.  They  embrace  several  dis 
tinct  branches,  such  as  agricultural  and  practical  chemis 
try,  geology,  and  mineralogy,  botany,  zoology,  mathema 
tics,  and  astronomy,  engineering,  physiology,  and  mecha 
nics. 

The  American  colleges  proper  are  organized  on  the  old 
English  model,  with  four  classes  :  Freshmen,  Sophomores, 
Juniors,  and  Seniors.  The  students  commonly  lodge  toge 
ther  in  one  building,  under  the  eye  of  tutors  or  assistant- 
teachers.  The  day's  studies  are  opened  and  closed  with 
Divine  service.  Drunkenness,  and  other  excesses,  arc 
punished  with  fine,  public  censure,  and  suspension,  and 
repeated  offenses  with  expulsion.  Such  unlimited  freedom 
as  prevails  in  the  German  universities,  would  be  con 
sidered  dangerous  and  impracticable  in  America.  It 
is  thought,  that  youth  must  be  kept  under  discipline, 
in  order  to  a  rational  use  and  enjoyment  of  freedom  in 


*72  THEIR   ORGANIZATION   AND   MANAGEMENT. 

manhood.  At  the  end  of  their  four  years'  course  the  stu 
dents  have  to  pass  an  examination  before  the  faculty,  and 
deliver  public  orations,  at  what  is  called  the  Commence 
ment,  which  is  generally  very  largely  attended  by  ladies  as 
well  as  gentlemen,  far  and  near,  and  forms  a  great  holiday 
for  all  the  neighboring  population.  On  that  occasion,  the 
graduating  students  receive  from  the  president,  in  form, 
before  the  crowded  assembly,  the  diploma  of  baccalaureus 
artium,  and  usually  three  years  afterwards  the  diploma 
of  rnagister  artium.  An  address  from  the  president, 
music,  and  prayer  close  the  festival.  On  such  an  occasion 
honorary  degrees  also  are  commonly  conferred ;  and 
indeed  so  lavishly  that  they  must  at  last  entirely  lose 
their  significance,  unless  a  reaction  take  place.  There  are 
American  doctors  of  divinity,  who,  however  distinguished 
they  may  be  as  men  and  as  preachers,  have  not  done 
science  the  least  service,  and  can  hardly  read  the  New 
Testament  in  the  original  text. 

The  number  of  colleges  is  already  very  considerable,  and 
is  increasing  almost  every  year.  Of  course,  not  a  few  are 
very  feeble,  and  do  science  no  honor.  Most  have  been 
founded  by  churches,  primarily  as  schools  preparatory  to 
theological  seminaries,  and  by  voluntary  contribution. 
Others,  as  the  Universities  of  Harvard,  Michigan,  Virginia, 
are  State  foundations,  and  have  no  particular  denomina 
tional  character.  Still  others  owe  their  origin  to  the  lib 
erality  of  an  individual ;  as  Girard  College,  in  Philadel 
phia,  with  its  sumptuous  buildings  of  pure  marble.  The 
education  afforded  by  these  institutions  is  not  so  thorough 


i 
STUDENTS'  SOCIETIES.  73 

as  in  Germany,  but  better  adapted  to  public,  practical  life. 
The  students  divide  themselves  into  two  rival  literary  socie 
ties,  which  are  almost  as  important  for  their  mental  de 
velopment,  as  the  recitations  and  lectures.  In  the  weekly 
meetings  of  these  societies  they  practise  declamation  and 
debate,  and  learn  also  the  management  of  public  assem 
blies,  and  the  whole  parliamentary  order;  a  matter  of 
great  importance  in  the  political  and  social  life  of  a  repub 
lic.  It  is  remarkable  what  esprit  de  corps  already  reigns 
in  the  students'  societies.  They  are  as  completely  organ 
ized  as  the  great  political  parties  of  the  country. 

3.  Faculty  Studies. — As  in  England,  so  also  in  America, 
very  many  take  a  college  course,  who  do  not  devote  them 
selves  to  any  learned,  profession,  but  become  merchants, 
land-owners,  politicians,  and  statesmen,  wishing  at  the 
same  time,  however,  to  be  educated  gentlemen.  Yet,  the 
proper  faculty  studies  are  already  better  attended  to  in  the 
United  States  than  at  the  English  Universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  where  they  are  almost  entirely  eclipsed 
by  the  general  college  studies.  Jurisprudence  is  usually 
pursued,  indeed,  privately  with  a  practising  attorney,  and 
deals  far  less  in  the  abstract  theories  of  law,  and  its  his 
torical  development,  than  in  the  concrete  forms  of  the  old 
English  laws  and  the  American  Constitution.  Yet  Har 
vard  University,  for  example,  and  Yale  College  have  formal 
law-schools.  Far  more  numerous  are  Medical  Colleges  for 
the  education  of  physicians — in  Philadelphia  alone  there 
are  three,  and,  in  fact,  a  fourth  for  female  doctors ! — and 
Theological  Seminaries  for  educating  preachers. 

4 


14       I  SCIENCE     AND     LITERATURE. 


Formerly  it  was  customary  for  students  to  prepare  for 
the  ministry  under  some  experienced  clergyman,  and  some 
do  so  Still ;  but  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
it  has  been  found  desirable  to  erect  special  institutions  for 
this  purpose,  mostly  in  connection  with  a  college.  Now, 
almost  every -respectable  denomination  and  sect  has  one 
such  seminary  or  more  of  its'  own  ;  and  the  tendency 
to  multiply  them  is,  in  truth,  only  too  strong.  For  when 
the  public  interest  becomes  so  much  divided,  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  any  one  institution  to  be  duly  sustained. 
Thus,  for  example,  the  various  branches  of  the  German 
Church  of  America  have  already  almost  a  dozen  such 
schools,  most  of  which  are  still  in  their  infancy,  with 
insufficient  faculties,  few  students,  small  libraries,  and  still 
obliged  to  struggle  for  their  material  existence ;  so  that 
the  honor  of  a  theological  professor  there  is  not  very  envia 
ble.  Sometimes  he  is  even  sent  out  as  an  agent  to  collect 
the  money  for  his  own  support.  Humbling  as  this  busi 
ness  is,  it  sometimes  seems  unavoidable ;  and  the  self- 
denial  and  energy  of  the  men  who  undertake  it  are  worthy 
of  all  recognition,  when  they  spring  from  sincere  interest 
in  the  church.  And  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
State,  being  in  fact  separate  from  the  church,  does 
nothing  for  institutions  of  this  kind — that  they  must  be 
established  and  maintained,  therefore,  wholly  by  the  volun 
tary  contributions  of  the  church — the  wonder  will  be,  that 
so  much  has  been  done  in  this  line  in  so  short  a  time. 
Many  of  the  older  seminaries,  as  that  of  the  Congregation- 
alists  at  Andover,  and  that  of  the  Presbyterians  at  Prince- 


THE    SMITHSONIAN     INSTITUTE.  75 

ton,  are  not  only  permanently  endowed,  and  furnished  each 
with  four  or  five  professors,  fine  libraries,  large  build 
ings  for  teachers  and  students,  but  have  also  already 
displayed  no  insignificant  literary  energy.  Scientific 
theology  has,  I  think,  a  more  genial  soil,  and  in  the 
last  twenty  years  has  accomplished  proportionally  more  in 
America  than  in  England  and  Scotland.  Certainly  very 
much  in  this  department  is  to  be  expected  from  America  in 
the  future.  And  then  these  American  theological  seminaries 
have,  at  all  events,  this  advantage,  that  the  students  devote 
themselves  to  theology,  not  for  their  bread,  as  is  so  often 
the  case  in  the  State  Churches  of  Europe,  but  from  reli 
gious  impulse,  and  hence  are,  so  far  as  fallible  man  can 
judge,  all  converted  young  men ;  and  that  they  always 
combine  practical  preparation  for  the  holy  office  with 
their  scientific  pursuits.  Very  often  a  seminary  proves  the 
mother  of  a  college,  as  a  preparatory  school,  which  from 
the  first  maintains  a  more  or  less  ecclesiastical  and  deno 
minational  character. 

4.  We  now  have  also  in  America  an  institution  some 
what  corresponding  to  an  Academy  of  Sciences — the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  at  Washington,  the  seat  of  the  Gene 
ral  Government.  It  was  founded  by  a  wealthy  English 
man,  whose  name  it  bears,  "  for  the  increase  and  diffusion 
of  knowledge  among  men,"  under  the  supervision  of  Con- 
gress>  and  the  immediate  control  of  three  secretaries. 

A  large  part  of  the  interest  which  had  accumulated  for 
many  years,  before  it  went  into  actual  operation,  was 
applied  to  the  erection  of  a  magnificent  Gothic  build- 


76  SCIENCE     AND     LITERATURE. 

ing,  and  the  establishment  of  a  library.  Thus  far  it 
has  devoted  itself  almost  exclusively  to  the  natural 
sciences,  though  it  has  already  done  much  towards  eluci 
dating  Indian  languages  and  antiquities,  and  sends  its'- 
superbly  illustrated  publications  to  almost  all  institutions 
and  societies  of  learning  at  home  and  abroad. 

Besides  this,  there  are  in  almost  all  the  older  States 
smaller  scientific  associations,  historical  societies,  &c. 

5.  Libraries  are  already  very  numerous  in  the  United 
States,  though  none  have  yet  reached  a  hundred  thousand 
volumes.  The  most  considerable  are  at  Cambridge,  Bos 
ton,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Washington.  Every 
scientific  institution  has  a  larger  or  smaller  collection 
of  books.  The  richest  colleges  send  agents  from  time  to 
time  to  Europe  to  purchase  valuable  works  in  all  branches 
of  literature.  Not  rarely,  whole  libraries  are  bought. 
Neander's  library,  for  example,  is  now  in  a  Baptist  Semi 
nary  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  that  of  the  late  Dr.  Thilo, 
of  Halle,  will  go  in  a  few  weeks  to  Yale  College,  New 
Haven,  for  which  it  has  just  been  purchased  by  one  of  its 
professors,  now  present  in  Berlin.  Some  years  ago,  John 
Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York,  the  richest  man  in  America,  a 
German  by  birth,  left  nearly  half  a  million  of  dollars  for 
the  establishment  of  a  public  library  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  This  has  lately  been  opened,  with  forty  thou 
sand  volumes,  in  an  admirably  arranged  building  in  Astor 
Place.  He  might  as  well  have  founded,  with  a  part  of 
his  eighteen  millions,  a  full  German  university,  at  least  for 
his  countrymen,  if  he  had  a  right  interest  in  them. 


LITERATURE.  77 

G.  Literature. — The  American  receives  his  education 
not  only  in  scientific  institutions,  but  almost  as  much  from 
public  life,  and  from  the  enormous  mass  of  periodical  and 
other  literature  which  circulates  through  the  land. 

The  United  States  are  the  classic  soil  of  newspapers. 
Every  political  party,  every  religious  sect,  every  theological 
school,  every  literary  and  philanthropic  association,  nay, 
every  village,  has  its  periodical  organ,  by  which  it  seeks  to 
form  public  opinion  in  its  favor.  The  number  of  quar 
terly  reviews,  and  monthly,  weekly,  and  daily  papers,  is 
therefore,  legion.  The  reading  of  the  political  and 
religious  periodicals  has  become  as  indispensable  as  break 
fast.  Every  respectable  man  takes,  at  least,  one,  not 
rarely  half  a  dozen,  newspapers,  which  are  commonly  in 
omnibus  aliquid,  though  very  often  also  in  toto  nihil. 
Such  reading  tends,  unquestionably,  to  diffuse  a  kind  of 
culture  among  all  classes  of  the  people ;  but  it  equally 
tends  to  superficiality — kills  taste  for  the  study  of  solid 
books,  and  dissipates  the  mind  almost  as  much  as  novel 
reading,  in  the  place  of  which,  to  a  great  extent,  it  there 
comes.  An  earnest  and  worthy  professor,  of  New  Eng 
land,  said  to  me  lately  :  "  The  religious  newspapers,  which 
often  live  only  on  flat  gossip  and  party  wrangling,  are  the 
curse  of  our  country."  They  are,  however,  at  worst,  a 
necessary  evil ;  and  it  is  the  task  of  all  good  men,  not  to 
restrict  the  public  press,  which  is  now  absolutely  impossi 
ble,  but  to  labor  to  make  it  more  and  more  the  vehicle  and 
lever  of  truth  and  virtue.  The  circulation  of  many  of 
these  sheets  is  without  a  parallel  in  Europe.  Several 


78  NEWSPAPERS     AND    MAGAZINES. 

political  newspapers  of  New  York  number  over  100,000. 
"Harper's  Magazine,"  an  illustrated  monthly,  for  the 
fashionable  world,  about  150,000  subscribers.*  The 
monthly  organ  of  the  American  Tract  Society  has  a  still 
larger  circulation.  This  may  be  owing  to  its  extraordinary 
cheapness  and  its  catholic  character.  But  even  denomina 
tional  organs  far  exceed  the  circulation  of  German  and 
French  church  gazettes.  The  "  New  York  Observer,"  for 
instance,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  religious  papers, 
professing  Presbyterian  principles,  as  far,  at  least,  as  it  suits 
its  very  conservative  policy,  and  containing,  after  the  gene 
ral  American  fashion,  a  great  variety  of  religious,  political, 
and  other  news,  devotional  pieces,  foreign  and  domestic 
correspondence,  advertisements,  etc.,  sends  out  nearly  20,000 
copies  every  week.  The  "New  York  Evangelist,"  the 
best  organ  of  New  School  Presbyterianism,  and  the 
"  Independent,'7  which  pleads  in  very  able  and  very  radi 
cal  style  the  cause  of  progressive  Puritanism  and  Aboli 
tionism,  are  not  yet  so  long  established  as  their  neighbors 

*  The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  whose  chief  editor  is  the  well-known  Horace 
Greeley,  called  the  Napoleon  of  the  American  press,  and  which  is  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  Whig  politics,  abolitionism,  temperance,  and  socialism,  has  now  a 
total  circulation  (daily,  semi-weekly,  and  weekly)  of  178,000.  See  Number  for 
May  24, 1855.  As  far  as  I  know,  no  French  newspaper  strikes  off  100,000  copies, 
unless  it  be  the  "  Moniteur."  The  "  London  Times  "  has,  no  doubt,  more 
readers,  and  deserves  them  too,  than  any  American  newspaper,  but  hardly  as 
many  subscribers  as  the  "  New  York  Tribune."  According  to  the  census 
reports  of  1850,  there  were  in  that  year  printed  in 'New  York  city  alone  106 
newspapers  proper  (exclusive  of  other  periodical  sheets),  with  an  average  cir 
culation  of  82,863,473  sheets ;  14  of  which  appeared  daily,  53  weekly,  and  14 
monthly.  The  daily  circulation  amounted  to  153,621 ;  the  weekly  to  425,200 ; 
the  monthly  to  401,200  copies. 


INFLUENCE     OF     SUCH     LITERATURE.  79 

of  tho  "  Observer,  but  will,  probably,  ere  long,  reach  the 
same  circulation.  Besides,  in  the  absence  of  an  interna 
tional  copyright,  all  the  more  important  English  and 
Scottish  quarterlies,  the  "Edinburgh,"  "London  Quarterly," 
"Westminster"  and  "North  British  Reviews,"  "Black- 
wood's  Magazine,"  "  Chamber's  Journal,"  "  Dickens'  House 
hold  Words,"  &c.,  are  reprinted  either  bodily  or  by 
extracts,  and  sold  far  cheaper  than  the  original  edition. 

And  the  number  of  other  works  is  in  proportion.  All 
books  of  any  account,  which  appear  in  Great  Britain,  are 
reprinted  in  America,  and  sold  at  never  more  than  half  the 
price.  The  greatest  establishment  of  the  kind,  and  per 
haps  the  largest  publishing  house  in  the  world,  is  that  of 
the  Brothers  Harper,  in  New  York.  It  was  burnt  last 
December  (1853),  but  with  true  American  energy  imme 
diately  put  in  operation  again  in  another  street,  and  with 
the  aid  of  presses  in  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Andover,  &c.,  as 
if  nothing  had  happened.  Intelligent  men  have  expressed 
to  me  the  positive  expectation,  that  New  York  will  soon  be 
the  greatest  book  market  in  the  world.  The  American 
Tract  Society  vies  with  the  secular  press,  and  multiplies 
copies  of  the  classical  English  works  on  practical  religion, 
the  ascetic  writings  of  Baxter,  Flavel,  Owen,  Howe,  Bun- 
yan,  Chalmers;  Merle  D'Aubigne's  "History  of  the 
Reformation,"  Krummacher's  "Elijah,"  &c.,  by  thousands, 
and  circulates  them  by  its  agents,  at  a  nominal  price,  in  the 
humblest  cottages  of  the  Far  West. 

One  might  think,  that  this  enormous  republication  of 
foreign  works  must  destroy  the  country's  own  productive- 


80          AMERICAN    LITERATURE    RECOGXIZED    IX    EUROPE. 

power,  and  choke  the  growth  of  an  original  literature. 
But  this  is  not  the  case.  True,  America  has  as  yet  pro 
duced  no  genius  of  the  first  magnitude  in  science  and  art, 
and  scarcely  one  in  twenty  of  its  literary  productions  is  of 
any  real  worth,  the  others  falling  still-born  from  the  press. 
But  we  may  already  observe  there  at  least  the  promising 
beginnings  of  an  independent  American  literature;  and 
Europe  herself,  formerly  disposed  to  make  sport  of  it,  now 
does  it  homage.  How  many  American  books  have,  within 
the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years,  been  reprinted  in  England 
and  Scotland,  and  translated  into  German,  French,  Italian, 
and  all  the  cultivated  languages  !  The  names  of  Cooper, 
Channing,  Washington  Irving,  Longfellow,  Bryant,  Dana 
Hawthorne,  Poe,  Willis;  and  of  the  authoresses,  Stowe, 
Wetherell,  Fanny  Fern,  &c,,  already  have  a  literary  repu 
tation  far  beyond  their  native  country.  How  often  during 
this  visit  have  I  seen  "The  Wide  Wide  World'7  and 
"  Queechy "  on  the  tables  of  Berlin !  What  immense 
celebrity,  and  one  may  say  almost  unexampled  circulation, 
has  " Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  attained  in  a  few  weeks,  not 
only  in  England,  but  also  on  the  whole  continent !  The 
pope  himself,  in  spite  of  public  opinion,  has  felt  it  neces 
sary  to  place  it  with  Humboldt's  "  Cosmos  "  and  Macauley's 
"  History  of  England,"  on  the  list  of  forbidden  books.  As 
if  such  works  were  more  dangerous  than  Boccaccio's 
"  Decamerone,"  to  be  found  in  almost  every  Italian  family, 
and  the  text-books  of  Jesuitical  casuistry  and  refined 
immorality. 

But  America  can  show  something  far  better  and  more 


NATURALISTS,    DIVINES,    AND    ORATORS.  81 

permanent,  than  mere  romance  ;  though  even  in  this  we 
must  commend  a  Mud  of  moral  earnestness  and  a  religious 
turn,  which  give  it  a  clear  advantage  over  the  frivolous 
novel  literature  of  the  French.  Prescott,  Bancroft,  Wash 
ington  Irving,  and  Sparks,  take  a  very  honorable  rank 
among  historians;  Story,  Kent,  and  Marshall,  among 
jurists;  Benjamin  Franklin,  Agassiz  (who,  however,  like 
his  friend  and  associate,  Guyot,  brought  his  reputation  with 
him  from  his  native  Switzerland),  Silliman,  Morse,  Henry, 
Maury,  Hitchcock,  among  naturalists  ;  Jonathan  Edwards, 
Stuart,  Park,  Stowe,  Barnes,  Hodge,  the  Alexanders  (father 
and  sons),  Nevin,  Smith,  arc  all  learned  and  able  divines ; 
Robinson  and  Lynch  have  opened  a  new  path  in  the  inves 
tigation  of  the  localities  and  antiquities  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  are  acknowledged  authorities  in  this  department  even 
in  Europe.  The  natural  sciences  particularly,  on  account 
of  their»practical  utility  and  their  influence  on  the  develop 
ment  of  the  material  resources  of  the  country,  have  there 
been  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  and  will 
probably  lead  yet  to  many  new  discoveries  and  inventions. 
The  liberal  cultivation  of  forensic,  parliamentary,  and 
sacred  eloquence,  which  only  thrives  in  the  atmosphere  of 
freedom,  is  particularly  favored  by  the  political  institutions 
and  the  synodical  self-government  of  the  churches  in 
America.  The  great  struggle  for  independence  in  the  last 
century  called  forth  some  of  the  noblest  specimens  of 
eloquence  in  a  noble  cause.  "When  the  strongest  passions 
were  excited,  when  the  dearest  interests  were  at  stake, 
when  the  question  was  to  "  sink  or  swim,  live  or  die, 

4* 


82  ORATORS. 

survive  or  perish,"  then  i(  patriotism  was  eloquent,  then 
self-devotion  was  eloquent."  But  the  succession  of  Patrick 
Henry,  the  "forest-born  Demosthenes;"  of  Otis,  Adams, 
Hancock,  Warren,  and  Ames  is  not  yet  extinguished.  I 
doubt  whether  any  country,  not  even  England  excepted, 
can  show,  in  proportion  to  its  population,  so  great  a  num 
ber  of  good  public  speakers,  debaters,  and  preachers,  as 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Republic,  Nor  is  she  deficient  in  talents 
and  geniuses,  which  rise  far  above  the  level  of  ordinary 
respectability.  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Everett,  Choate, 
Seward,  and  Sumner,  stand,  at  least,  not  far  behind  the 
brilliant  and  unrivalled  rhetorical  galaxy  of  the  British  Par 
liament,  from  the  elder  Pitt  and  Burke  down  to  Sir  Robert 
Peel  and  Lord  Brougham. 

Several  of  Daniel  Webster's  speeches,  on  the  Dartmouth 
College  cause  (especially  the  peroration) ;  on  the  landing 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers ;  on  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone, 
and  also  on  the  final  dedication  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monu 
ment  ;  on  the  death  of  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson ; 
against  the  nullification  doctrine  of  Judge  Hayne  (think  of 
the  inimitable  encomium  upon  his  native  State,  Massachu 
setts!)  and  of  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina;  and  for  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  in  March,  1850,  will  be  read 
and  admired  for  their  strength  of  logic,  simple  grandeur, 
and  classic  finish,  as  long  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue  is 
spoken,  and  some  passages  in  them  fully  answer  his  own 
definition  of  genuine  patriotic  eloquence,  which  "comes 
like  the  outbreaking  of  a  fountain  from  the  earth,  or  the 
bursting  forth  of  volcanic  fires,  with  spontaneous,  original, 


SCIENCE    AND    LITERATURE.  83 

native  force,"  that  eloquence  which  combines  "  the  clear 
conception,  outrunning  the  deductions  of  logic,  the  high 
purpose,  the  firm  resolve,  the  dauntless  spirit,  speaking  on 
the  tongue,  beaming  from  the  eye,  informing  every  feature, 
and  urging  the  whole  man  onward,  right  onward  to  his 
object ;"  that  eloquence,  which  is  "  something  greater  and 
higher  than  all  eloquence,  which  is  action,  noble,  sublime, 
god-like  action." 

In  the  Fine  Arts  the  Americans  are  certainly  still  far 
behind ;  especially  in  the  arts  of  design,  the  cultivation  of 
which  has  been  more  or  less  hindered  by  the  reigning 
Puritanic  prejudices.  Yet  poetry,  that  highest,  most  spiri 
tual,  and  most  versatile  of  the  liberal  arts,  already  has 
respectable  representatives,  as  the  names  above-mentioned 
prove.  For  Music  the  Americans  have,  to  say  the  least, 
more  susceptibility  than  the  English ;  Jenny  Lind  was 
received  in  1850  with  frantic  enthusiasm,  and  her  tour 
through  the  States  was  a  real  triumphal  progress.  Archi 
tectural  taste  is  rapidly  improving,  and  in  the  larger  cities 
there  have  arisen  within  a  few  years,  magnificent  churches 
in  the  Grecian,  Byzantine,  Norman,  and  Gothic  styles. 
Benjamin  West  and  Leutze,  the  distinguished  painters,  are 
Americans ;  and  Powers  and  Crawford  rank  high  amongst 
the  sculptors  of  the  present  day.  In  the  mechanical  or 
useful  arts,  especially  in  the  building  of  railroads,  steam 
and  sailing  vessels,  and  machinery  of  all  sorts,  the  Ameri 
cans  already  equal,  and  in  some  cases  even  surpass,  the 
English. 

I  cannot  close  this  section  without  referring  to  the  grow- 

O  O 


84       INFLUENCE    OF    GERMAN    LITERATURE    AND    SCIENCE 

ing  influence,  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  prevailing 
prejudices,  German  science  and  literature  have  exerted  in 
the  United  States  for  some  years  past,  especially  in  phi 
lology,  history,  philosophy,  and  theology.  No  important 
Latin,  Greek,  or  Hebrew  grammar  and  dictionary,  no 
edition  or  commentary  on  an  old  classic,  has  appeared 
there,  not  based  on  the  works  of  Zumpt,  Buttmann, 
Kiihner,  Winer,  Freund,  Passow,  Gesenius,  Bockh,  Jacobs, 
&c.  Coleridge,  the  English  Schelling,  began  the  transfer 
and  assimilation  of  the  ideas  of  German  philosophy.  His 
profound  and  stimulating  works  have  as  many  readers  and 
friends  in  America  as  in  England.  The  most  important 
productions  of  the  modern  German  theology;  the  histori 
cal  works  of  Neander,  Gieseler,  and  Ranke ;  the  dogmatic 
productions  of  Knapp,  Nitzsch,  J.  Miiller ;  the  exegetical 
writings  of  Olshausen,  Hengstenberg,  Tholuck,  and 
Liicke ;  are  widely  circulated  in  more  or  less  successful 
translations.  Almost  every  number  of  the  "Bibliotheca 
Sacra,"  of  Andover,  the  "  Biblical  Repertory,"  of  Princeton, 
the  "  New  Englander,"  of  New  Haven,  the  "  Methodist 
Quarterly  Review,"  of  New  York,  the  "  Christian  Review," 
of  the  Baptists,  the  "  Mercersburg  Review,"  of  the  German 
Reformed,  the  "Evangelical  Review,"  of  the  Lutherans, 
presents  translations  or  reviews  of  the  latest  theological 
productions  of  Germany.  In  the  most  respectable  col 
leges  and  seminaries  of  the  Congregationalists,  Presbyte 
rians,  Baptists,  &c.,  some  acquaintance,  at  least,  with 
German  literature,  were  it  only  for  the  sake  of  opposing  it, 
is  now  almost  the  rule. 


IN    THE    UNITED     STATES.  85 

The  German  book  trade  has  accordingly  very  much 
increased  in  consequence  of  native  American  demand 
as  well  as  the  increase  of  immigration.  I  well  remember, 
when  I  landed  in  America,  ten  years  ago,  how  hard  it  was 
to  procure  German  books  and  periodicals  with  any  thing 
like  regularity.  Now,  there  are  in  New  York  alone  four 
respectable  German  book-stores,  as  many  in  Philadelphia, 
and  two  in  Cincinnati,  which  lay  before  us  the  latest 
works,  especially  in  theology,  within  a  few  weeks  after 
their  appearance. 

Many  Americans,  particularly  from  New  England,  visit 
German  universities,  to  finish  their  scientific  education. 
There  are  said  to  be  now  in  Berlin  alone  more  than 
twenty  engaged  in  various  studies.  With  the  increased 
facilities  of  communication,  the  tour  to  Europe  becomes 
more  and  more  frequent,  and  even  the  visit  to  the  far  East, 
especially  to  the  holy  places,  which  the  Saviour  trod,  and 
to  which  this  people  of  the  far  West  look  back  with  singu 
lar  interest.  Once  across  the  ocean,  the  American  is  not 
afraid  of  distances  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  miles ; 
and  from  the  remotest  regions  of  the  earth  he  gathers  new 
knowledge  and  new  views,  and  returns  with  elevated  love 
and  enthusiasm  to  his  native  land,  to  work  them  up  for 
the  advancement  of  American  culture. 

In  short,  America,  favored  by  the  most  extensive  emi 
gration  from,  all  other  countries,  will  become  more  and 
more  the  receptacle  of  all  the  elements  of  the  old  world's 
good  and  evil,  which  will  there  wildly  ferment  together, 
and  from  the  most  fertile  soil  bring  forth  fruit  for  the  weal 
or  woe  of  generations  to  come. 

O 


86  RELIGION     AXD    THE     CHURCH. 


V.    RELIGION    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

| 

I  come  now  to  the  point  most  important  in  my  own 
view,  and,  doubtless,  most  interesting  to  this  assembly. 
But  want  of  time  obliges  me  to  confine  myself  to  some 
general  remarks,  which  may,  at  least,  help  to  pilot  you 
through  the  mazes  of  American  church  history. 

It  is  a  vast  advantage  to  that  country  itself,  and  one 
may  say  to  the  whole  world,  that  the  United  States  were 
first  settled  in  great  part  from  religious  motives  ;  that  the 
first  emigrants  left  the  homes  of  their  fathers  for  faith  and 
conscience'  sake,  and  thus  at  the  outset  stamped  upon  their 
new  home  the  impress  of  positive  Christianity,  which  now 
exerts  a  wholesome  influence  even  on  those  later  emigrants, 
who  have  no  religion  at  all. 

The  ecclesiastical  character  of  America,  however,  is 
certainly  very  different  from  that  of  the  Old  World.  Two 
points  in  particular  require  notice. 

The  first  is  this.  While  in  Europe  ecclesiastical  institu 
tions  appear  in  historical  connection  with  Catholicism,  and 
even  in  evangelical  countries,  most  of  the  city  and  village 
churches,  the  universities,  and  religious  foundations,  point 
to  a  mediaeval  origin ;  in  North  America,  on  the  contrary, 
every  thing  had  a  Protestant  beginning,  and  the  Catholic 
Church  has  come  in  afterwards  as  one  sect  among  the 
others,  and  has  always  remained  subordinate.  In 
Europe,  Protestantism  has,  so  to  speak,  fallen  heir 
to  Catholicism  ;  in  America,  Catholicism  under  the 
wins:  of  Protestant  toleration  and  freedom  of  con- 


CATHOLICISM   AND    PROTESTANTISM   IX    AMERICA.          87 

science,  lias  found  an  adopted  home,  and  is  everywhere 
surrounded  by  purely  Protestant  institutions.  True, 
the  colony  of  Maryland,  planted  by  the  Catholic  Lord 
Baltimore,  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlements  of  North 
America.  But,  in  the  first  place,  even  this  was  by  no 
means  specifically  Roman.  It  was  founded  expressly  on 
the  thoroughly  anti-Roman,  and  essentially  Protestant, 
principles  of  religious  toleration.  And  then,  again,  it 
never  had  any  specific  ecclesiastical  influence  on  the 
character  of  the  country  ;  for  even  the  prominent  position 
of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  as  the  American  metropolis 
of  the  Roman  Church,  is  of  much  later  date.  Far  more 
important  and  influential  were  the  settlements  of  the  Puri 
tans  in  New  England,  the  Episcopalians  in  Virginia,  the 
Quakers  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Dutch  in  New  York,  in  the 
course  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Presbyterians  from 
Scotland  and  North  Ireland,  and  the  German  Lutherans 
and  Reformed  from  the  Palatinate,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth.  These  have  given  the  country  its  spirit  and 
character.  Its  past  course  and  present  condition  are  unques 
tionably  due  mainly  to  the  influence  of  Protestant  principles. 
The  Roman  Church  has  attained  social  and  political  impor 
tance  in  the  eastern  and  western  States  only  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  vast  Irish  emi-' 
gration  ;  but  it  will  never  be  able  to  control  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  World,  though  it  should  increase  a  hundred  fold. 
Another  peculiarity  in  the  ecclesiastical  condition  of 
North  America,  connected  with  the  Protestant  origin  and 
character  of  the  country,  is  the  separation  of  church  and 
state.  The  infidel  reproach,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 


88  SEPARATION    OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE. 

power  of  the  state,  Christianity  would  have  long  ago  died 
out;  and  the  argument  of  Roman  controversialists,  that 
Protestantism  could  not  stand  without  the  support  of 
princes  and  civil  governments,  both  are  practically  refuted 
and  utterly  annihilated  in  the  United  States.  The  presi 
dent  and  governors,  the  congress  at  Washington,  and  the 
state  legislatures,  have,  as  such,  nothing  to  do  with  the 
church,  and  are  by  the  Constitution  expressly  forbidden  to 
interfere  in  its  affairs.  State  officers  have  no  other  rights 
in  the  church,  than  their  personal  rights  as  members  of  par 
ticular  denominations.  The  church,  indeed,  everywhere 
enjoys  the  protection  of  the  laws  for  its  property,  and  the  exer 
cise  of  its  functions ;  but  it  manages  its  own  affairs  indepen 
dently,  and  has  also  to  depend  for  its  resources  entirely  on 
voluntary  contributions.  As  the  state  commits  itself  to  no 
particular  form  of  Christianity,  there  is  of  course  also  no 
civil  requisition  of  baptism,  confirmation,  and  communion. 
Religion  is  left  to  the  free  will  of  each  individual,  and  the 
church  has  none  but  moral  means  of  influencing  the  world. 
This  separation  was  by  no  means  a  sudden,  abrupt 
event,  occasioned,  say,  by  the  Revolution.  The  first  set 
tlers,  indeed,  had  certainly  no  idea  of  such  a  thing ;  they 
proceeded  rather  on  Old  Testament  theocratic  principles, 
like  Calvin,  John  Knox,  the  Scottish  Presbyterians,  and  the 
English  Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century;  regarding 
state  and  church  as  the  two  arms  of  one  and  the  same 
divine  will.  In  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  the  Puritans, 
in  fact,  founded  a  rigid  Calvinistic  state-church  system. 
They  made  the  civil  franchise  depend  on  membership  in 
the  church ;  and  punished  not  only  blasphemy  and  open 


RELIGION    AND    THE     CHURCH.  89 

infidelity,  but  even  every  departure  from  the  publicly 
acknowledged  code  of  Christian  faith  and  practice  as  a 
political  offense.  In  Boston,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
even  the  Quakers,  who  certainly  acted  there  in  a  very  fana 
tical  and  grossly  indecent  way,  were  formally  persecuted, 
publicly  scourged,  imprisoned,  and  banished ;  and,  in 
Salem,  of  the  same  State,  witches  were  burnt  as  accompli 
ces  of  the  devil.  The  last  traces  of  this  state-church  system 
in  New  England  were  not  obliterated  till  long  after  the 
American  Revolution,  and  even  to  this  day  most  of  the 
States  have  laws  for  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  mono 
gamy,  and  other  specifically  Christian  institutions.  Thus 
the  separation  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  powers  is  by 
no  means  absolute.  While  New  England  had  Congrega 
tionalism  for  its  established  religion,  New  York  also  had  at 
first  the  Dutch  Reformed,  and  afterwards  the  English  Epis 
copal  church,  and  Virginia,  and  some  other  Southern 
States,  also  the  English  Episcopal,  for  their  establishments. 
With  these  the  other  forms  of  Christianity  were  tolerated 
either  not  at  all,  or  under  serious  restrictions,  as  formerly 
the  Dissenters  were  in  England. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  there  prevailed  in  other  North 
American  colonies  from  their  foundation,  therefore  long 
before  the  Resolution  of  17Y6,  entire  freedom  of  faith  and 
conscience ;  as  in  Rhode  Island,  founded  by  the  Baptist, 
Roger  Williams,  who  was  banished  from  Massachusetts  for 
heresy,  and  thus  set  by  bitter  experience  against  religious 
intolerance  ;  in  Pennsylvania,  which  the  quaker,  William 
Penn,  originally  designed  as  an  asylum  for  his  brethren  in 


90  GRADUAL    GROWTH     OF    THE 

'faith,  but  to  which  he  soon  invited  also  German  Reformed 
and  Lutherans  from  the  Palatinate,  guaranteeing  equal 
rights  to  all,  and  leaving  each  to  the  guidance  of  the 
"  inward  light ;''  and,  finally,  in  Maryland,  founded  by 
Lord  Baltimore  on  the  same  basis  of  universal  religious 
toleration. 

After  the  American  Revolution  this  posture  of  the 
State  gradually  became  general.  First,  the  legislature  of 
Virginia,  after  the  colony  had  separated  from  the  mother- 
country,  annulled  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Episco 
pal  establishment,  and  placed  all  the  dissenting  bodies  on 
a  perfectly  equal  footing  with  it  in  the  eye  of  the  law.* 
Her  example  was  followed  by  the  other  colonies,  which 
had  established  churches.  When  Congress  was  organized 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  an  article  was  placed  in  the 
Constitution,  forbidding  the  enactment  of  laws  about 
religion  ;f  and  similar  prohibitions  are  found  in  the  consti 
tutions  of  the  several  States. 

We  would  by  no  means  vindicate  this  separation  of 
church  and  state  as  the  perfect  and  final  relation  between 
the  two. .  The  kingdom  of  Christ  is  to  penetrate  and 
transform  like  leaven,  all  the  relations  of  individual  and 
national  life.  We  much  prefer  this  separation,  however, 
to  the  territorial  system  and  a  police  guardianship  of  the 


*  The  result  is  owing  to  the  combined  influence  of  the  oppressed  dissenters, 
the  liberal  amongst  the  Episcopalians,  and  the  infidels  of  the  school  of  Jefferson, 
who  was  then  almighty  in  the  political  circles  of  Virginia. 

t  "  Congress  shall  make  no  laws  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 


SEPARATION    OF    CHURCH   AND    STATE.  91 

church,  the  Bride  of  the  God-man,  the  free-born  daughter 
of  heaven  ;  and  we  'regard  it  as  adapted  to  the  present 
wants  of  America,  and  favorable  to  her  religious  inte 
rests.  For  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  thought,  that  the 
separation  of  church  and  state  there  is  a  renunciation  of 
Christianity  by  the  nation ;  like  the  separation  of  the 
state  and  the  school  from  the  church,  and  the  civil 
equality  of  Atheism  with  Christianity,  which  some  mem 
bers  of  the  abortive  Frankfurt  Parliament  were  for  intro 
ducing  in  Germany.  It  is  not  an  annihilation  of  one 
factor,  but  only  an  amicable  separation  of  the  two  in  their 
spheres  of  outward  operation ;  and  thus  equally  the 
church's  declaration  of  independence  towards  the  state, 
and  an  emancipation  of  the  state  from  bondage  to  a  parti 
cular  confession.  The  nation,  therefore,  is  still  Christian, 
though  it  refuses  to  be  governed  in  this  deepest  concern  of 
the  mind  and  heart  by  the  temporal  power.  In  fact, 
under  such  circumstances,  Christianity,  as  the  free  expres 
sion  of  personal  conviction  and  of  the  national  character, 
has  even  greater  power  over  the  mind,  than  when  enjoined 
by  civil  laws  and  upheld  by  police  regulations. 

This  appears  practically  in  the  strict  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  the  countless  churches  and  religious  schools,  the 
zealous  support  of  Bible  and  Tract  societies,  of  domestic 
and  foreign  missions,  the  numerous  revivals,  the  general 
attendance  on  divine  "worship,  and  the  custom  of  family 
devotion — all  expressions  of  the  general  Christian  cha 
racter  of  the  people,  in  which  the  Americans  are  already 
in  advance  of  most  of  the  old  Christian  nations  of 
Europe. 


92    REMAINING    CONNECTION    BETWEEN    CHURCH  AND    STATE. 

Iii  fact,  even  the  state,  as  such,  to  some  extent  officially 
recognizes  Christianity.  Congress  appoints  chaplains 
(mostly  from  the  Episcopal,  sometimes  from  the  Presbyterian 
and  the  Methodist  clergy)  for  itself,  the  army,  and  the 
navy.  It  opens  every  day's  session  with  prayer,  and  holds 
public  worship  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  Senate  Chamber  at 
Washington.  The  laws  of  the  several  States  also  contain 
strict  prohibitions  of  blasphemy,  atheism,  Sabbath-breaking, 
polygamy,  and  other  gross  violations  of  general  Christian 
morality. 

Thus  the  separation  is  not  fully  carried  out  in  practice, 
on  account  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  on  the  popular 
mind.  It  is  even  quite  possible  that  the  two  powers  may 
still  come  into  collision.  The  tolerance  of  the  Americans 
has  its  limits  and  counterpoise  in  that  religious  fanaticism, 
to  which  they  are  much  inclined.  This  may  be  seen  in 
the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons,  who  so  grossly  offended  the 
religious  and  moral  sense  of  the  people.  Great  political 
difficulties  may  still  arise,  especially  from  the  growth  of  the 
Roman  church,  which  has  been  latterly  aiming  everywhere 
at  political  influence,  and  thus  rousing  the  jealousy  and 
opposition  of  the  great  Protestant  majority.  The  Puritanic 
Americans  see  in  Catholicism  an  ecclesiastical  despotism, 
from  which  they  fear  also  political  despotism,  so  that  its 
sway  in  the  United  States  must  be  the  death  of  Republican 
freedom.  Thus  the  Catholic  question  has  already  come  to 
be  regarded  by  many  as  at  the  same  time  a  political  ques 
tion,  involving  the  existence  of  the  Republic;  and  a  reli 
gious  war  between  Catholics  and  Protestants, .  though  in 


RELIGION     AND    THE     CHURCH.  93 

the  highest  degree  improbable,  is  still  by  no  means  an 
absolute  impossibility ;  as,  in  fact,  slight  skirmishes  have 
already  occurred  in  the  street  fight  between  the  two  par 
ties  in  Philadelphia  in  1844,  and  the  violent  demolition  of 
a  Roman  convent  at  Charlestovvn,  Mass.  The  secret  politi 
cal  party  of  the  "  Know-Nothings,'7  which  is  just  sweeping- 
over  the  States  with  the  rapidity  of  the  whirlwind,  but 
which,  for  this  very  reason,  cannot  last  long  in  this  parti 
cular  form,  is  mainly  directed  against  the  influence  of 
Romanism. 

If,  however,  the  great  question  of  the  relation  of  church 
and  state  bo  not  by  any  means  fully  solved  even  in  the, 
United  States,  still  the  two  powers  are  there  at  all  events 
much  more  distinct  than  in  any  other  country. 

The  natural  result  of  this  arrangement  is  a  general  pre 
valence  of  freedom  of  conscience  and  religious  faith,  and 
of  the  voluntary  principle,  as  it  is  called  :  that  is,  the  pro 
motion  of  every  religious  work  by  the  free-will  offerings  of 
the  people.  The  state,  except  in  the  few  cases  mentioned 
above,  does  nothing  towards  building  churches,  supporting 
ministers,  founding  theological  seminaries,  or  aiding  indi 
gent  students  in  preparation  for  the  ministry.  No  taxes 
are  laid  for  these  objects ;  no  one  is  compelled  to  contri 
bute  a  farthing  to  them.  What  is  done  for  them  is  far, 
indeed,  from  being  always  done  from  the  purest  motives — 
love  to  God  and  to  religion — often  from  a  certain  sense  of 
honor,  and  for  all  sorts  of  selfish  by-ends;  yet  always  from 
free  impulses,  without  any  outward  coercion. 

This   duly   considered,  it   is   truly   wonderful,   what   a 


94  RELIGION    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

multitude  of  churches,  ministers,  colleges,  theological 
seminaries,  and  benevolent  institutions  are  there  founded 
and  maintained  entirely  by  free-will  offerings.  In  Berlin 
there  are  hardly  forty  churches  for  a  population  of  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  of  whom,  in  spite  of  all  the 
union  of  church  and  state,  only  some  thirty  thousand 
attend  public  worship.  In  New  York,  to  a  population  of 
•six  hundred  thousand,  there  are  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  well-attended  churches,  some  of  them  quite  costly  and 
splendid,  especially  in  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue.*  In 
the  city  of  Brooklyn,  across  the  East  River,  the  number 
of  churches  is  still  larger  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
and  in  the  country  towns  and  villages,  especially  in  New 
England,  the  houses  of  worship  average  one  to  every 
thousand,  or  frequently  even  five  hundred,  souls.  If  these 
are  not  Gothic  cathedrals,  they  are  yet  mostly  decent, 
comfortable  buildings,  answering  all  the  purposes  of  the 
cono'reo-ation  often  even  far  better  than  the  most  imposing 

O        O  I  O 

works  of  architecture.  In  every  new  city  district,  in  every 
new  settlement,  one  of  the  first  things  thought  of  is  the 
building  of  a  temple  to  the  Lord,  where  the  neighboring 
population  may  be  regularly  fed  with  the  bread  of  life  and 
encouraged  to  labor,  order,  obedience,  and  every  good 
work.  Suppose  the  state,  in  Germany,  should  suddenly 
withdraw  its  support  from  church  and  university,  how 

*  In  1S54  there  were  in  New  York  city,  forty-eight  Episcopal  churches,  forty- 
eight  Presbyterian,  thirty-five  Methodist,  nineteen  Reformed  Dutch,  twenty- 
nine  Baptist,  eight  Congregational,  five  Lutheran,  and  twenty-four  Roman 
Catholic  ;  besides  the  church  edifices  of  several  smaller  denominations  and 
sects,  which  must  swell  the  number  now  to  nearly  300. 


THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE.  95 

many  preachers  and  professors  would  be  breadless,  and 
liow  many  auditories  closed  ! 

The  voluntary  system  unquestionably  has  its  great  blem 
ishes.  It  is  connected  with  all  sorts  of  petty  drudgery, 
vexations,  and  troubles,  unknown  in  well  endowed  Estab 
lished  Churches.  Ministers  and  teachers,  especially  among 
the  recent  German  emigrants  in  America,  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  State  provision  for  religion  and  education, 
have  very  much  to  suffer  from  the  free  system.  They  very 
often  have  to  make  begging  tours  for  the  erection  of  a 
church,  and  submit  to  innumerable  other  inconveniences 
for  the  good  cause,  till  a  congregation  is  brought  into  a 
proper  course,  and  its  members  become  practised  in  free 
giving. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  voluntary  system  calls  forth 
a  mass  of  individual  activity  and  interest  among  the  laity 
in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  the  founding  of  new  churches 
and  congregations,  colleges  and  seminaries,  in  home  and 
foreign  missions,  and  in  the  promotion  of  all  forms  of 
Christian  philanthropy.  We  may  here  apply  in  a  good 
sense  our  Lord's  word  :  "  Where  the  treasure  is,  there  the 
heart  will  be  also."  The  man,  who,  without  coercion, 
brings  his  regular  offering  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
church  and  the  minister,  has  commonly  much  more  inte 
rest  in  both,  and  in  their  prosperity  he  sees  with  pleasure 
the  fruit  of  his  own  labor.  The  same  is  true  of  semi 
naries.  All  the  congregations  and  synods  are  interested  in 
the  theological  teacher,  whom  they  support,  and  who 


96  RELIGION    AND    THE     CHURCH. 

trains  ministers  of  the  Word  for  them ;  while  in  Europe 
the  people  give  themselves  little  or  no  trouble  about 
the  theological  faculties. 

O 

It  is  commonly  thought  that  this  state  of  things  neces 
sarily  involves  an  unworthy  dependence  of  the  minister  on 
his  congregation.  But  this  is  not  usually  the  case.  The 
Americans  expect  a  minister  to  do  his  duty,  and  they  most 
esteem  that  one  who  fearlessly  and  impartially  declares  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  and  presents  the  depravity  of  man 
and  the  threatenings  of  the  Divine  Word  as  faithfully  as 
he  does  the  comforting  promises.  Cases  of  ministers 
employed  for  a  certain  time,  as  hired  servants,  occur  indeed 
occasionally  in  independent  German  rationalistic  congrega 
tions,  and  perhaps  among  the  Universalists,  but  not  in  a 
regular  synod.  A  pious  congregation  well  knows  that  by 
such  a  degradation  of  the  holy  office,  which  preaches 
reconciliation,  and  binds  and  looses  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
it  would  degrade  itself;  and  a  minister,  in  any  respectable 
church  connection,  would  not  be  allowed  to  accept  a  call 
on  such  terms,  even  were  he  willing. 

Favored  by  the  general  freedom  of  faith,  all  Christian 
denominations  and  sects,  except  the  Oriental,  have  settled 
in  the  United  States,  on  equal  footing  in  the  eye  of 
the  law ;  here  attracting  each  other,  there  repelling ; 
rivalling  in  both  the  good  and  the  bad  sense  ;  and  mutually 
contending  through  innumerable  religious  publications. 
They  thus  present  a  motley  sampler  of  all  church  history, 
and  the  results  it  has  thus  far  attained.  A  detailed 


THE    CHURCH    IN    A   TRANSITION    STATE    IN    AMERICA.       91 

description  of  these  at  present  is  forbidden,  both  by  want 
of  time  and  by  the  proportion  of  the  discourse.*  Suffice 
it  to  say,  in  general,  that  the  whole  present  distracted  con 
dition  of  the  church  in  America,  pleasing  and  pro 
mising  as  it  may  be,  in  one  view,  must  yet  be  regarded  on 
the  whole  as  unsatisfactory,  and  as  only  a  state  of  transi 
tion  to  something  higher  and  better. 

America  seems  destined  to  be  the  Phenix  grave  not 
only  of  all  European  nationalities,  as  we  have  said  above, 
but  also  of  all  European  churches  and  sects,  of  Protestant 
ism  and  Romanism.  I  cannot  think,  that  any  one  of  the 
present  confessions  and  sects,  the  Roman,  or  the  Episcopal, 
or  the  Congregational,  or  the  Presbyterian,  or  the 
Lutheran,  or  the  German  or  Dutch  Reformed,  or  the 
Methodist,  or  the  Baptist  communion,  will  ever  become 
exclusively  dominant  there;  but  rather,  that  out  of  the 
mutual  conflict  of  all  something  wholly  new  will  gradually 
arise. 

At  all  events,  whatever  may  become  of  the  American 
denominations  and  sects  of  the  present  day,  the  kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ  must  at  last  triumph  in  the  New  World,  as 
elsewhere,  over  all  foes,  old  and  new.  Of  this  we  have 
the  pledge  in  the  mass  of  individual  Christianity  in 
America ;  but  above  all,  in  the  promise  of  the  Lord,  who 
is  with  his  people  always  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and 
who  has  founded  his  church  upon  a  rock,  against  which 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  never  prevail.  And  his  words  are 
yea  and  amen. 

*  This  ia  given  in  the  second  lecture. 

5 


98  CONCLUDING    REMARKS. 

With  this  prospect  we  finish  this  outline  miniature  of 
life  in  the  United  States.  You  see  from  it,  that  all  the 
powers  of  Europe,  good  and  bad,  are  there  fermenting 
together  under  new  and  peculiar  conditions.  All  is  yet  in 
a  chaotic  transition  state ;  but  organizing  energies  are 
already  present,  and  the  spirit  of  God  broods  over  them, 
to  speak  in  time  the  almighty  word  :  "  Let  there  be  light !" 
and  to  call  forth  from  the  chaos  a  beautiful  creation. 

Perhaps,  in  the  view  of  many  of  my  respected  hearers, 
I  have  drawn  too  favorable  a  picture.  But  I  beg  to 
remind  them,  first,  that  the  dark  side,  which,  indeed,  I 
have  not  concealed,  has  been  only  too  often  presented  in 
disproportion  and  caricature  by  European  tourists  or  dis 
tant  observers ;  and,  secondly,  that  it  would  be  very 
ungrateful  and  dishonorable  for  me  to  disparage  my  new 
fatherland  behind  its  back,  to  uncover  its  nakedness  with 
unsparing  hand,  and  neglect  its  virtues  and  its  glorious 
prospects. 

In  general,  however,  notwithstanding  all  differences  on 
particular  points,  few  intelligent  and  unprejudiced  Germans 
certainly  will  think  me  wrong  in  designating  America  as  a 
world  of  the  future.  I  do  so,  not  in  disparagement  of  old 
and  venerable  Europe.  She,  indeed,  unquestionably  trem 
bled  to  her  foundations  in  1848,  and  seemed  on  the  verge 
of  a  fearful  anarchy  and  barbarism ;  but  she  has  since 
already  shown,  that  in  Christianity  and  civilization  she  has 
the  power  and  the  pledge  of  regeneration.  I  do  not 
believe,  that  Europe,  which  we  Americans  revere  and  love 
as  our  bodily  and  spiritual  mother,  must  become  a  second 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS.  99 

Asia,  in  order  that  America  may  become  a  higher  Europe. 
In  fact,  this  critical  moment  itself  gives  promise  of  a  rege 
neration  of  the  East  and  of  the  venerable  birth-place  of 
Christianity.  This  we  may  hope,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  will  be  the  final  result  of  the  present  contest  between 
Russia  and  the  Western  Powers  for  Constantinople  and  the 
key  of  the  holy  sepulchre.  The  partition  walls  between 
nations  and  countries  are  gradually  being  removed  by  the 
facilities  of  communication,  which  must  serve  in  a  higher 
hand  as  instruments  for  spiritual  and  eternal  ends.  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa,  America,  and  Australia,  all  belong  to  the 
Lord,  who  died  for  them  all.  They  come  nearer  together 
every  year,  and  must  at  last,  without  distinction  of  old 
and  new,  whether  called  into  the  vineyard  early  or  late, 
exchange  the  hand  of  brotherhood,  submit  in  free  obedience 
to  the  common  Lord,  glorify  his  name,  and  fulfill  the  pro 
mise  of  one  fold  under  one  shepherd. 


PART    II. 

THE    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

"  WESTWARD  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way."  This 
verse  of  a  celebrated  English  philosopher  is  a  characteris 
tic  watchword  of  the  American's  restless  Teachings  into  the 
future.  It  flatters  his  vanity,  it  spurs  his  ambition,  it  rouses 
his  energy,  it  constantly  excites  and  strengthens  in  him  the 
impression  that  his  nation  is  one  day  to  be  the  greatest  of 
the  earth,  to  attain  the  perfection  of  church  as  well,  as 
state,  and  then  to  react  with  regenerating  power  on 
Europe,  and  from  California  to  convert  China  and  Japan. 
These  are,  to  be  sure,  extravagant  notions,  favored  no  less  by 
ignorance  of  the  state  of  Europe  than  by  American  vanity. 

Yet  this  verse  has  truth.  It  expresses  the  general  law 
of  the  geographical  march  of  history  both  secular  and 
sacred.  Thus  far  civilization  and  Christianity  have  fol 
lowed  in  the  main  the  course  of  the  sun  from  East  to 
West.  The  East,  the  land  of  the  morning,  is  not  only  the 
cradle  of  mankind  and  of  civilization,  but  also  the  birth 
place  of  the  church.  Around  the  venerable  countries  of 
Palestine,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  now  desolate,  and  groaning 
under  the  yoke  of  the  false  prophet,  cluster  the  earliest  and 
holiest  associations  of  Christendom.  Hence  Christendom 
now,  at  this  critical  moment,  looks  out  upon  them  from 
Europe  and  America  with  the  intensest  interest,  and  in 


102       CHURCHES   AND    SECTS    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

4 

hope  of  an  approaching  regeneration  of  the  Eastern 
churches.  From  Asia  Christianity  spread  to  Greece  and 
to  Eome ;  and  thence  flowed  the  conversion  and  civiliza 
tion  of  the  Romanic  and  Germanic  tribes.  But  as  early 
as  the  close  of  the  Middle  Age  Paris — still  further  West — 
became  a  model  of  higher  culture,  and  a  chief  seat  of  the 
scholastic  and  mystic  theology,  and  of  reformatory  efforts 
in  the  church,  which  gradually  and  steadily  spread,  and 
struck  deepest  root  in  Germanic  soil. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Germany  and  Switzerland, 
became  the  starting-place  of  another  grand  movement  of 
history,  in  which  we  now  have  our  place,  and  whose  end 
cannot  yet  be  seen.  Germany,  lying  geographically  in 
the  centre  of  Europe,  was  commissioned  in  the  age  of  the 
Reformation  to  furnish  the  heart's  blood  for  the  modern 
history  of  the  world  and  the  church,  to  bring  out  from  the 
inexhaustible  mines  of  the  word  and  the  spirit  principles 
and  ideas,  which  should  embody  themselves  as  institutions 
and  become  flesh  and  blood  in  other  lands. 

From  Germany  and  Switzerland  the  great  Reformation 
passed  to  the  west  of  Europe,  visiting  especially  that 
remarkable  Anglo-Saxon  island,  which  has  since  risen  to 
the  dominion  of  the  sea  and  of  commerce,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  the  vast  duty  of  spreading  Christianity  and  Euro 
pean  culture  in  all  its  colonies.  From  England  and  Scot 
land  the  northern  half  of  the  western  hemisphere  has  been, 
and  in  our  own  day  the  still  newer  world  of  Australia  is 
being,  colonized  and  prepared  for  political  and  religious 
independence.  The  history  of  England  and  North  Ame- 


COURSE    OF  HISTORY   FROM   EAST   TO    WEST.  103 

rica  for  the  last  three  centuries  is  utterly  unintelligible 
without  the  Reformation.  It  is  at  bottom  a  continuation 
of  the  movement,  which,  starting  from  Wittenberg,  Zurich, 
and  Geneva,  spread  into  the  Germanic  countries  North  and 
West,  and  has  given  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  especially  the 
most  powerful  impulse  towards  the  fulfillment  of  its  mission 
for  the  world. 

In  North  America  all  sections  and  interests  of  European 
Protestantism  are  now  more  or  less  fully  represented. 
There  they  all  find  a  free  asylum  and  room  for  unrestrained 
development.  There  the  Roman  Church  also  finds  the 
same  freedom.  There  all  confessions  and  sects  come  into 
contact,  and  into  a  conflict,  the  result  of  which  must  greatly 
affect  the  future  fortunes  of  all  Christendom.  America 
will  also  in  time  take  a  very  active  part  in  the  Christian 
izing  of  China  and  Japan,  and  a  lively  interest  in  all  great 
missionary  operations.  However  unfavorable  our  judg 
ment,  therefore,  of  its  present  ecclesiastical  condition — and 
I  confess  my  own  dissatisfaction  with  it — we  have  every 
year  less  room  to  deny  or,  save  from  sheer  prejudice,  to 
overlook  its  great  prospective  importance. 

.From  this  point  I  will  now  endeavor  to  present,  first,  a 
general  ecclesiastical  view-  of  North  America,  and  then  a 
sketch  of  each  of  the  most  prominent  confessions  and  sects. 

L    GENERAL    ECCLESIASTICAL    CONDITION    OF    THE    UNITED 

STATES. 

As  the  present  can  be  duly  undcrstoood  only  in  its  con 
nection  with  the  past,  allow  me  to  premise  a  few  historical 
remarks. 


104    GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   U.    S. 

North  America,  as  already  observed,  follows  strictly  in 
the  train  of  the  ecclesiastical  revolution  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  is  in  its  prevailing  religious  character  primarily 
a  continuation  of  European  Protestantism.  The  American 
historian,  Bancroft,  throughout  his  extensive  work,  proceeds 
on  the  presumption,  that  even  the  entire  civil  constitution 
and  social  life  of  North  America,  is  a  product  of  the  Eng 
lish  Puritanism,  which  is  itself  a  modification  of  the  Gene 
van  Calvinism.  This  is  an  exaggerated  view.  Bancroft, 
in  his  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  writes  in  general  as 
a  propagandist  of  Republicanism — and  of  Republicanism, 
too,  as  conceived  by  the  Democratic  party — and  hence  sees 
some  things  in  an  entirely  false  light.  Yet  his  view  has 
somewhat  of  truth.  It  certainly  cannot  be  denied,  that  the 
American  system  of  general  political  freedom  and  equality 
(which,  however,  has  a  restriction  and  counterpart  in  the 
slavery  of  the  Southern  States),  with  its  kindred  doctrine 
— not  by  any  means  fully  applied,  yet  aiming  to  be — of 
the  rights  and  duties  of  self  government  and  active  coope 
ration  of  the  people  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth, 
is,  in  some  sense,  a  transferring  to  the  civil  sphere  the  idea 
of  the  universal  priesthood  of  Christians,  which  was  first 
clearly  and  emphatically  brought  forward  by  the  Reformers. 
With  the  universal  priesthood  comes  also  a  corresponding 
universal  kingship ;  though,  of  course,  this  no  more 
excludes  a  special  kingship,  or  a  rank  of  rulers,  than  the 
other,  a  particular  ministry.  This  universal  kingship  is 
what  the  American  Republic  aims  at.  Whether  it  will 
ever  realize  it  is  a  very  different  question.  Certainly  not 
by  the  unfolding  of  any  powers  of  mere  nature.  The  Bible 


AMERICAN   HISTORY   AND   THE   REFORMATION.          105 

idea  of  a  general  priesthood  and  kingship  can  be  realized 
only  by  supernatural  grace,  and  will  not  appear  in  its  full 
reality  before  the  consummation  of  all  things  at  the  glo 
rious  coming  of  Christ. 

The  Germanic  and  Protestant  character  of  the  United 
States  reveals  itself  particularly  in  their  uncommon 
mobility  and  restless  activity,  contrasting  with  the  mourn 
ful  stagnation  of  the  Romanic  and  Roman  Catholic 
countries  of  Central  and  South  America.  The  people  are 
truly  a  nation  of  progress,  both  in  the  good  sense  and  in 
the  bad;  of  the  boldest,  often  foolhardy,  enterprise;  a 
restless  people,  finding  no  satisfaction,  save  in  constant 
striving,  running,  and  chasing  after  a  boundless  future. 
I  state  here  an  actual  fact,  palpable  to  every  one,  who  sets 
foot  in  the  New  World,  and  observes,  for  instance,  the 
bustle  and  headway  of  such  a  city  as  New  York.  This 
spirit  of  enterprise  is  shared  also  by  the  religious  bodies, 
even  by  the  Roman  Church,  which  promises  itself  a 
glorious  future  in  America. 

The  connecting  link  between  European  and  American 
church  history  is  England, — poorer  in  ideas,  than  Germany, 
but  exhibiting  Protestantism  more  as  an  institution,  and 
in  far  greater  political  and  social  importance,  than  any 
country  of  the  continent ;  as,  in  fact,  she  is  to  this  dayjjthe 
mightiest  bulwark  of  Protestantism  against  Rome.  The  six 
Northeastern  States,  collectively  called  New  England,  have 
thus  far  exerted  the  leading  religious  influence  in  the  Union. 
Through  these  especially  the  ecclesiastical  life  of  North 
America  strikes  its  deepest  roots  in  those  mighty  religious 


106   GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION   OF   THE   U.S. 

and  civil  contests,  which  shook  England  in  the  seventeenth 
century  ;  in  that  Puritanic  movement,  whichtfnay  be  called 
a  second  Reformation,  a  more  consistent,  though  an 
extreme,  carrying  out  of  the  Protestant  principle  against 
the  semi-Catholicism  of  the  Episcopal  Establishment. 

Apart  from  what  was  merely  preparatory,  the  church 
history  of  the  United  States  properly  begins  with  the 
emigration  of  the  Puritan  "  Pilgrim  Fathers."  These  pious, 
bible-reading,  earnest,  and  energetic  Puritans,  persecuted 
in  England  for  their  faith,  and  sacrificing  to  religious 
conviction  their  father-land,  and  all  associated  with  that 
sweet  word,  first  sought  refuge  in  Holland  in  the  year 
1G11  ;  thence  in  1620  crossed  the  Atlantic;  landed,  after 
a  long,  stormy  voyage,  on  the  lonely  rock  of  Plymouth, 
and  here  first  of  all  kneeled  in  tears,  to  thank  their  Lord 
and  God  for  their  happy  deliverance  from  the  perils  of 
death  and  from  all  bondage  of  conscience.  Soon  re 
inforced  by  larger  emigrations  of  their  brethren  in  faith, 
especially  in  1630,  they  founded  in  Massachusetts,  accord 
ing  to  the  principles  of  the  strictest  Calvinism,  a  theocratic 
state,  and  became  the  fathers  of  a  republic,  of  whose  power 
and  importance  they  did  not  dream; — a  striking  proof, 
that  the  greatest  results  may  flow  from  small  beginnings. 

True,  the  settlement  of  Virginia,  with  the  planting  of  the 
English  Episcopal  Church  there,  was  of  earlier  date  (1607) ; 
but  this  proceeded  mainly  from  commercial  interests,  and 
has  accordingly  had  no  such  influence  in  forming  the 
religious  character  of  the  Americans.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  founding  of  the  New  Netherland  colony  by  the 


RELIGIOUS  INTEREST  IN  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  U.  S.    107 

Hollanders,  who  established  a  trading  port  on  Manhattan 
island  as  early  as  1614,  thus  laying  the  foundation  for  the 
town  of  New  Amsterdam,  as  New  York  was  originally 
called,  and  some  years  afterwards  transplanted  the  Re 
formed  Dutch  Church  with  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  and 
the  Decrees  of  Dort  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  and  the 
Delaware. 

Pennsylvania,  on  tho  contrary,  had  a  decidedly  religious 
origin.  The  renowned  William  Penn,  designed  it  (1680) 
primarily  as  an  asylum  for  his  persecuted  brethren  in  faith, 
and  stamped  it  from  the  first  with  the  main  features  of 
the  Quaker  sect,  which  may  be  plainly  discerned  to  this 
day,  especially  in  Philadelphia,  the  "  city  of  brotherly-love." 
At  the  same  date  Maryland  (so  called  after  Henrietta  Maria, 
daughter  of  Henry  IV.,  and  wife  of  Charles  I.)  became  a 
refuge  of  persecuted  Catholics  under  Lord  Baltimore. 
After  the  infamous  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by 
the  grandson  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  many  Huguenots  betook 
themselves  to  North  and  South  Carolina,  New  York,  and 
New  Jersey,  and  there  gradually  merged  themselves  in  the 
Presbyterian  and  Episcopal  churches.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century  began  the  emigration  of  the  German 
Lutherans  and  Reformed  from  the  provinces  on  the  Rhine. 
This  emigration  passed  chiefly  to  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
occasioned  in  part  by  the  devastation  of  the  Palatinate,  and 
the  oppression  of  the  Protestants  by  the  army  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth.  Somewhat  later  the  Salzburgers  sought  and 
found  in  Georgia  a  home  of  peace,  and  freedom  for  their 
Lutheran  faith.  About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 


108    GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION   OF  THE   U.S. 

century  Zinzendorf  and  Spangenburg  planted  in  the  same 
State,  but  more  especially  in  Pennsylvania  (at  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth),  several  communities  of  Moravian  Brethren  ; 
while  Miihlenberg,  as  commissioner  of  the  Halle  Orphan 
House,  organized  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  the  Swiss 
Schlatter  the  German  Reformed,  in  Pennsylvania.  In  the 
same  period  John  Wesley  and  Whitefield  several  times 
appeared  on  the  soil  of  the  New  World,  as  mighty  evan 
gelists  and  revival  preachers ;  and  the  great  movement  of 
Methodism,  in  connection  with  the  awakening  influence 
from  New  England,  mainly  from  the  metaphysical  divine 
and  powerful  preacher,  Jonathan  Edwards,  stirred  and 
fructified  the  whole  land. 

Thus  was  North  America  from  the  first,  like  Geneva  in 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  only  on  a  much  larger  scale, 
an  asylum  for  all  the  persecuted  of  the  Old  World.  And 
so  it  has  remained  to  this  day ;  though  the  later  emigration 
has  rather  lost  the  religious  character,  and  is  mostly  ruled  by 
secular  interests.  It  is  an  incalculable  advantage  for  that 
land,  that  its  first  settlements  sprang  in  great  part  from 
earnest  religious  movements.  Modern  infidelity  and  in- 
differentism,  which  are  likewise  imported,  cannot  do  it 
near  so  much  harm,  as  if  they  had  laid  the  foundation  of 
its  institutions. 

From  this  history  of  the  rise  of  the  United  States,  we  can 
understand,  in  the  first  place,  how  the  principle  of  religious 
toleration  should  be  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  people.  They 
must  give  up  their  own  tradition  and  their  holiest  associa 
tions,  before  they  can  ever  bow  to  ecclesiastical  despotism 


RELIGIOUS   TOLERATION   IN   AMERICA.  109 

and  exclusiveness.  The  persecuted  man  has  always  been  an 
advocate  of  toleration  for  his  own  interest,  and,  to  be 
consistent,  must  also  sympathize  with  all  the  persecuted. 
In  America  universal  freedom  of  faith  and  conscience  came 
by  necessity,  and  with  this  a  separation  of  Church  and 
State,  even  in  those  colonies  where  they  were  originally 
united. 

But  this  is  only  one  side  of  the  matter.  From  the 
above  allusions  to  American  church  history  it  is  at  the 
same  time  clear,  that  the  principle  of  religious  freedom 
rests  there  on  a  religious  basis,  as  the  result  of  many  suf 
ferings  and  persecutions  for  the  sake  of  faith  and  con 
science;  and  thus  differs  very  materially  from  some  modern 
theories  of  toleration,  which  run  out  into  sheer  religious 
indifference  and  unbelief.  The  American  is  as  intolerant 
as  he  is  tolerant ;  and,  to  appreciate  his  character,  we 
must  keep  this  paradoxical  fact  always  in  view.  In  many 
things  he  is  even  decidedly  fanatical.  Think  only  of  the 
Puritanic  origin  of  New  England,  and  of  the  enormous 
influence  which  the  strict  Calvinism  still  exerts  on  the 
whole  land.  In  the  same  Geneva,  which  so  hospitably 
received  all  hunted  Protestants  from  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
England,  and  Scotland,  there  reigned  at  the  same  time 
a  rigoristic  church  discipline,  and  Servetus  was  burned  as 
a  blasphemer.  The  American  leaves  every  man  at  liberty 
to  belong  to  any  church,  confession,  or  sect,  or  to  none, 
according  to  his  own  free  conviction.  But  within  the  par 
ticular  confessions  the  lines  are  far  more  sharply  and 
strictly  drawn  than  in  Europe.  There  every  church  mem- 


110    GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL    CONDITION    OF   THE    U.S. 

ber  is   required  to   adhere   closely  to   the   doctrines   and 
usages  of  the  particular  body,  to  which  he  belongs. 

Hence  in  America  a  preacher  or  theological  professor 
far  more  easily  than  here  incurs  suspicion  of  neology  and 
heresy,  and,  though  not  indeed  imprisoned  nor  banished, 
much  less  burned,  as  in  Papal  times,  is  yet  forthwith 
deposed,  and,  if  necessary,  formally  excommunicated,  if 
after  due  investigation  it  appear,  that  he  teaches  and  acts 
contrary  to  his  church,  which  called  him  and  bound  him 
to  a  certnin  confession  of  faith.  A  rationalist,  like  Paulus, 
Wegscheider,  Rohr,  Bretschneider,  Uhlich,  Wislicenus, 
could  not  find  a  place  in  the  pulpit  or  professorial  chair  of 
any  respectable  communion,  not  even  the  Unitarian  ;  while 
in  Germany  even  the  majority  of  the  theological  chairs 
and  superintendences  have  for  twenty  years,  in  spite  of  all 
obligation  to  symbols,  been  filled  by  men  of  this  or  some 
similar  school.  That  even  at  this  day  a  man  like  Dr. 
Baur,  who  denies  the  genuineness  of  all  the  New  Tes 
tament  books,  except  four  epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Apoca 
lypse,  and  treats  the  Gospel  .history  .almost  like  a  heathen 
mythology,  should  still  hold  the  first  theological  chair  of 
the  evangelical  church  of  Wurtemberg,  is  absolutely 
incomprehensible  to  a  Presbyterian,  a  Puritan,  or  an  Epis 
copalian.  A  man,  who  does  not  believe  in  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Bible,  the 
necessity  of  conversion  and  regeneration,  and  who  does  not 
at  the  same  time  live  a  strictly  moral  life,  must  in  Ame 
rica  enter  any  other  calling  sooner  than  the  ministry.  In 
the  pulpit  he  will  appear  to  the  people,  who  have  a  very 


SENSITIVENESS  TO  NEOLOGY  AND  HYPER-ORTHODOXY.    Ill 

sound  discernment  in  the  matter,  as  a  hypocrite,  or  as  an 
objective  lie,  in  bold  contradiction  with  the  nature  and  spi 
rit  of  his  calling. 

From  the  decidedly  Protestant  character  of  the  country, 
however,  one  can  also,  much  more  easily  than  in  Ger 
many,  incur  the  opposite  charge  of  hyper-orthodoxy, 
of  Puseyism,  and  of  Romanizing  tendencies  ;  as,  for  exam 
ple,  by  objecting  to  the  Puritanic  views  of  Catholicism  and 
of  church  history,  by  insisting  on  the  import  of  the 
church,  its  unity,  and  historical  continuity,  or  on  a  mysti 
cal  view  of  the  sacraments,  in  opposition  to  the  prevailing 
symbolical  theory.  I  might,  if  it  were  proper,  give  some 
striking  instances  of  this  from  my  own  experience.  In 
this  respect  the  German  churches  of  America  are  more 
tolerant,  by  reason  of  their  connection  with  the  Ger 
man  theology  ;  whereas  the  English  and  Anglo-American 
theology  has  adhered  for  more  to  the  lines  of  the  old  Pro 
testant,  especially  the  Puritanic,  extremely  anti-Catholic 
orthodoxy  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  has  been  more 
directly  under  the  control  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

This  supervision  of  theology  by  the  church  is  a  valuable 
remnant  of  discipline,  and  ought,  I  think,  to  be  preferred 
to  too  broad  and  latitudinarian  a  freedom  of  doctrine ; 
though  I  grant,  and  that  from  bitter  personal  experience, 
that  it  is  very  often  associated  with  shallowness,  bigotry, 
and  the  spirit  of  persecution  ;  and  thus  in  many  ways  hin 
ders  the  free  development  of  theology. 

The  religious  character  of  North  America,  viewed  as  a 
whole,  is  predominantly  of  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic 


112   GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION   OF  THE   U.S. 

stamp,  which  modifies  there  even  the  Lutheran  Church,  to 
its  gain,  indeed,  in  some  respects,  but  to  its  loss  in  others. 
To  obtain  a  clear  view  of  the  enormous  influence  which 
Calvin's  personality,  moral  earnestness,  and  legislative 
genius,  have  exerted  on  history,  you  must  go  to  Scotland 
and  to  the  United  States.  The  Reformed  Church,  where 
it  develops  itself  freely  from  its  own  inward  spirit  and  life, 
lays  special  stress  on  thorough  moral  reform,  individual, 
personal  Christianity,  freedom  and  independence  of  congre 
gational  life,  and  strict  church  discipline.  It  draws  a  clear 
line  between  God  and  the  world,  Church  and  State,  rege 
nerate  and  unregenerate.  It  is  essentially  practical,  out 
wardly  directed,  entering  into  the  relations  of  the  world, 
organizing  itself  in  every  variety  of  form  ;  aggressive  and 
missionary.  It  has  also  a  vein  of  legalism,  and  here, 
though  from  an  opposite  direction,  falls  in  with  the  Roman 
Church,  from  which  in  every  other  respect  it  departs  much 
further  than  Lutheranism.  It  places  the  Bible  above 
every  thing  else,  and  would  have  its  church  life  ever  a 
fresh,  immediate  emanation  from  this,  without  troubling 
itself  much  about  tradition  and  intermediate  history. 
Absolute  supremacy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  absolute 
sovereignty  of  Divine  grace,  and  radical  moral  reform  on 
the  basis  of  both,  these  are  the  three  most  important  and 
fundamental  features  of  the  Reformed  type  of  Protestant 
ism. 

In  the  ecclesiastical  condition  of  America,  with  all  the 
differences  among  particular  branches,  these  general  cha 
racteristics  are  all  clearly  defined.  The  religious  life  of 


DEFECTS   OF   ANGLO-AMERICAN    PROTESTANTISM.         113 

that  country  is  uncommonly  practical,  energetic,  and  enter 
prising.  Congregations,  synods,  and  conventions  display 
an  unusual  amount  of  oratorical  power,  and  of  talent  for 
organization  and  government ;  and  it  is  amazing,  what 
a  mass  of  churches,  seminaries,  benevolent  institutions, 
religious  unions  and  societies,  are  there  founded  and 
supported  by  mere  voluntary  contribution.  In  all  these 
respects,  Germany  and  the  whole  continent  of  Europe, 
where  the  spirit  of  church  building  and  general  religious 
progress  does  not  keep  pace  at  all  with  the  rapid  increase 
of  population  in  large  cities,  could  learn  very  much  from 
America. 

With  these  virtues,  however,  American  Christianity,  of 
course,  has  also  corresponding  faults  and  infirmities.  It  is 
more  Petrine  than  Johannean ;  more  like  busy  Martha 
than  like  the  pensive  Mary,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 
It  expands  more  in  breadth  than  in  depth.  It  is  often 
carried  on  like  a  secular  business,  and  in  a  mechanical 
or  utilitarian  spirit.  It  lacks  the  beautiful  enamel  of  deep 
fervor  and  heartiness,  the  true  mysticism,  an  appreciation 
of  history  and  the  church ;  it  wants  the  substratum  of  a 
profound  and  spiritual  theology ;  and  under  the  mask  of 
orthodoxy  it  not  unfrequently  conceals,  without  intending 
or  knowing  it,  the  tendency  to  abstract  intellectual- 
ism  and  superficial  rationalism.  This  is  especially  evident 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  church  and  the  Sacraments,  and  in 
the  meagreness  of  the  worship,  which  lacks  not  only 
all  such  symbols  as  the  cross,  the  baptismal  font,  the 
gown,  but  even  every  liturgical  element  (except  in  the 


114   GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   U.S. 

Episcopal  and  most  of  the  German  churches),  so  that 
nothing  is  left,  but  preaching,  free  prayer,  and  singing, 
and  even  the  last  is  very  often  left  merely  to  the  choir, 
instead  of  being  the  united  act  of  the  congregation. 

Here  now  is  the  work  of  the  German  church  for 
America;  not  only  of  the  Lutheran,  but  also  of  the 
German  Reformed,  which  in  fact  was  never  strictly  Calvi- 
nistic,  but  has  always  been  rather  Melanchthonian,  mode 
rate,  mediating  between  Lutheranism  and  Calvinism, 
between  the  Germanic  and  the  Romanic  Protestantism, 
and  has  accordingly  in  recent  times  almost  everywhere, 
especially  in  Prussia,  fallen  in  with  the  Evangelical  Union. 
The  German  church,  with  its  hearty  enjoyment  of 
Christianity,  and  direct  intercourse  with  a  personal 
Saviour,  its  contemplative  turn,  its  depth  of  inward  view, 
its  regard  for  history,  and  its  spirited  theology,  might  and 
should  enter  as  a  wholesome  supplemental  element  into 
the  development  of  American  Protestantism;  and  this 
it  has,  in  fact,  within  a  few  years  begun  in  a  small  way  to 
do,  assisted  by  the  increasing  number  of  translations  of 
the  standard  works  of  German  theology.  It  is  still  more 
plainly  the  mission  duty  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  that 
country  to  restrain  the  imchurcbly  and  centrifugal  forces 
of  ultra-Protestantism.  By  her  excellent  Prayer  Book 
she  supplies  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  the  German 
denominations  the  defects  of  a  purely  subjective  and 
jejune  worship,  and  she  would  recommend  herself  still  more 
if  she  would  allow  greater  freedom  and  variety  in  the 
liturgical  service.  Her  theological  mission  too  is  to 


THE    SECT   SYSTEM.  115 

mediate  between  the  extremes  of  Romanism  and  Puritan 
ism  ;  but  her  native  American  literature  so  far  does  not 
correspond  with  her  great  material  resources  and  social 
standing,  and  has  not  exerted  much  influence  yet  to  shape 
the  theological  thinking  of  the  country ;  partly  on  account 
of  her  pedantry  and  exclusiveness. 

As  to  the  good  and  the  evil  effects  of  the  voluntary 
principle,  which  follows  unavoidably  from  the  separation 
of  church  and  state,  and  underlies  the  whole  American 
church  system,  I  have  already  expressed  myself  in  the 
first  lecture,  and  will  not  here  repeat  my  remarks. 

I  must  here,  however,  speak  more  fully  of  the  Sect 
system,  which  I  then  only  briefly  touched  upon.  Ame 
rica  is  the  classic  land  of  sects,  where  in  perfect  freedom 
from  civil  disqualification,  they  can  develop  themselves 
without  restraint.  This  feet  is  connected  indeed  with 
the  above-mentioned  predominance  of  the  Reformed  type 
of  religion.  For  in  the  Reformed  church  the  Protestant 
features,  and  with  them  the  subjective,  individualizing 
principle,  are  most  prominent.  But  in  the  term  sect- 
system  we  refer  at  the  same  time  to  the  whole  ecclesias 
tical  condition  of  the  country.  For  there  the  distinction 
of  church  and  sect  properly  disappears ;  at  least  the 
distinction  of  established  church  and  dissenting  bodies,  as 
it  is  commonly  understood  in  England  and  Germany. 
In  America,  there  is,  in  fact,  no  national  or  established 
church ;  therefore  no  dissenter.  There  all  religious  asso 
ciations,  which  do  not  outrage  the  general  Christian 
sentiment  and  the  public  morality  (as  the  Mormons,  who. 


116   GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION   OF  TIIB   U.  S. 

for  their  conduct,  were  driven  from  Ohio  and  Illinois), 
enjoy  the  same  protection  and  the  same  rights.  The 
distinction  between  confessions  or  denominations  (as  the 
word  is  there)  and  sects  is  therefore  likewise  entirely 
arbitrary,  unless  perhaps  the  acknowledgment  or  rejection 
of  the  ecumenical  or  old  Catholic  symbols  be  made  the 
test ;  though  this  would  not  strictly  apply  even  in 
Germany. 

Favored  by  the  general  freedom  of  conscience,  the 
.  representatives  of  all  the  forms  of  Christianity  in  the  Old 
World,  except  the  Greek — for  we  here  leave  out  of  view 
the  isolated  Russian  colony  in  the  Northwest  of  America 
— have  gradually  planted  themselves  in  the  vast  field  of 
the  United  States  by  emigration  from  all  European 
countries,  and  are  receiving  reinforcements  every  year. 
There  is  the  Roman  with  his  Tridentinum  and  pompous 
mass ;  the  Episcopal  Anglican  with  his  Thirty-nine  Arti 
cles  and  Book  of  Common  Prayer ;  the  Scotch  Presby 
terian  with  his  Westminster  Confession,  and  his  presby 
teries  and  synods;  the  Congregationalist,  or  Puritan  in 
the  stricter  sense,  also  with  the  Westminster  Confession, 
but  with  his  congregational  independence ;  the  Baptist, 
with  his  immersion  and  anti-paedobaptism ;  the  Quaker, 
with  his  inward  light ;  the  Methodist,  with  his  call  to 
repentance  and  conversion,  and  his  artificial  machinery ; 
the  Lutheran,  now  with  all  his  symbols,  from  the  Augus- 
tana  to  the  Form  of  Concord,  now  with  the  first  only,  and 
now  with  none  of  them ;  the  German  Reformed  and 
Reformed  Dutch,  with  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  the 


THE    SECT   SYSTEM.  lit 

Presbyterian  Synodal  church  polity  ;  the  Unionist,  either 
with  the  consensus  of  both  confessions,  or  indifferently 
rejecting  all  symbols ;  the  Moravian  community,  with  its 
silent  educational  and  missionary  operations ;  and  a 
multitude  of  smaller  sects  besides,  mostly  of  European 
origin,  but  some  of  American.  In  short,  all  the  English 
and  Scotch  churches  and  sects,  and  all  branches  of  German 
and  Netherland  Protestantism,  are  there  represented.  Each 
one  alone  is,  of  course,  weaker  than  its  mother  church  in 
Europe,  except  the  Puritanic,  which  has  attained  its  chief 
historical  importance  only  in  New  England.  But  they  are 
all  there,  not  rarely  half  a  dozen  in  a  single  country  town, 
eaeh  with  its  own  church  or  chapel ;  and,  where  they 
have  any  real  vitality  at  all,  they  grow  there  proportion 
ally  much  faster  than  in  Europe.  Some,  as  the  Presby 
terian,  the  Methodist,  the  German  Protestant,  and  the 
Roman  Catholic,  have  even  almost  doubled  their  numbers 
within  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years. 

This  confusion  of  denominations  and  sects  makes  very 
different  impressions  on  the  observer  from  different  theolo 
gical  and  religious  points  of  view.  If  he  makes  all  of 
individual  Christianity,  and  regards  the  conversion  of  men 
as  the  whole  work  of  the  church,  he  will  readily  receive 
a  very  favorable  impression  of  the  religious  state  of  things 
in  America.  It  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  by  the  great 
number  of  churches  and  sects  this  work  is  promoted  ; 
since  they  multiply  the  agencies,  spur  each  other  on,  vie 
with  each  other,  striving  to  outdo  one  another  in  zeal  and 
success.  We  might  refer  to  the  separation  of  Paul  and 


118    GENERAL    ECCLESIASTICAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   U.    S. 

Barnabas,  by  which  one  stream  of  apostolic  missionary 
labor  was  divided  into  two,  and  fructified  a  greater  num 
ber  of  fields  with  its  living  waters.  There  are  in  Ame 
rica  probably  more  awakened  souls,  and  more  individual 
effort  and  self-sacrifice  for  religious  purposes,  proportion 
ally,  than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world,  Scotland 
alone  perhaps  excepted.  This  is  attributable,  at  least  in 
part,  to  the  unrestricted  freedom  with  which  all  Christian 
energies  may  there  put  themselves  forth ;  and  to  the  fact, 
that  no  sect  can  rely  on  the  favor  of  the  State,  but  that 
each  is  thrown  upon  its  own  resources,  and  has  therefore 
to  apply  all  its  energies  to  keep  pace  with  its  neighbors 
and  prevent  itself  from  being  swallowed  up. 

The  charge  that  the  sect  system  necessarily  plays  into 
the  hands  of  infidelity  on  one  side  and  of  Romanism  on 
the  other  has  hitherto  at  least  not  proved  true,  though 
such  a  result  is  very  naturally  suggested.  There  is  in 
America  far  less  open  unbelief  and  skepticism,  than  in 
Europe  ;  and  Romanism  is  extremely  unpopular.  Whe 
ther  things  will  continue  so  is  a  very  different  question. 

But  on  closer  inspection  the  sect  system  is  seen  to 
have  also  its  weaknesses  and  its  shady  side.  It  brings  all 
sorts  of  impure  motives  into  play,  and  encourages  the  use 
of  unfair,  or  at  least  questionable  means  for  the  promotion 
of  its  ends.  It  nourishes  party  spirit  and  passion,  envy, 
selfishness,  and  bigotry.  It  changes  the  peaceful  kingdom 
of  God  into  a  battle-field,  where  brother  fights  brother, 
not,  of  course,  with  sword  and  bayonet,  yet  with  loveless 
harshness  and  all  manner  of  detraction,  and  too  often 


THE    SECT    SYSTEM.  119 

subordinates  the  interests  of  the  church  universal  to  those 
of  his  own  party.  It  tears  to  pieces  the  beautiful  body  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  continually  throws  in  among  its  mem 
bers  the  fire-brands  of  jealousy  and  discord,  instead  of 
making  them  work  together  harmoniously  for  the  same 
high  and  holy  end.  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  that 
Christianity  aims  not  merely  to  save  individual  souls,  and 
then  leave  them  to  themselves,  but  to  unite  them  with 
God  and  therefore  also  with  one  another.  It  is  essentially 
love,  and  tends  towards  association ;  and  the  church  is 
and  ought  to  become  more  and  more  the  one  body  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  fullness  of  Him  who  filleth  all  in  all. 
If,  therefore,  the  observer  start  with  the  conception  of  the 
church  as  an  organic  communion  of  saints,  making  unity 
and  universality  its  indispensable  marks,  and  duly  weigh 
ing  the  many  exhortations  of  Holy  Scripture  to  keep  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  ;  he  cannot  possi 
bly  be  satisfied  with  the  sect  system,  but  must  ever  come 
out  against  it  with  the  warnings  of  Paul  against  the  divi 
sions  and  parties  in  the  Corinthian  church.  A  friend 
very  near  to  me,  and  a  thoughtful,  deeply  earnest  theolo 
gian,  has  keenly  assailed  and  exposed  the  sect  system  as 
the  proper  American  Antichrist.  The  noblest  and  most 
pious  minds  in  America  most  deeply  disapprove  and 
deplore  at  least  the  sect  spirit ;  and  fortunately  too,  this 
spirit  recedes  in  proportion  as  the  genuine  spirit  of  Chris 
tianity,  the  uniting  and  co-operative  spirit  of  brotherly 
love  and  peace,  makes  itself  felt.  In  the  American  Bible 
and  Tract  Societies  and  Sunday  School  Union,  the  various 


120   GENERAL   ECCLESIASTICAL  CONDITION   OF   THE   U.  S. 

evangelical  denominations  work  hand  in  hand  and  get 
along  right  well  together,  although  their  Catholicity  is 
more  of  a  negative  character,  not  reconciling,  but  conceal 
ing  the  confessional  differences,  and  although  their  charity 
is  at  an  end  as  soon  as  the  Romish  church  is  mentioned, 
as  if  she  was  simply  an  enemy  of  Christ.  Several  of  the 
most  prominent  churches  maintain  a  friendly  inter-delega 
tion  ;  and  even  in  those  which  do  not,  or  which  make  it  a 
mere  form,  all  the  true  children  of  God,  when  they  see 
one  another  face  to  face,  exchange  the  hand  of  fellowship 
in  spite  of  all  the  jealousy  and  controversy  between  their 
respective  communions. 

Sectarianism,  moreover — and  this  I  might  especially 
commend  to  the  attention  of  German  divines — is  by  no 
means  a  specifically  American  malady,  as  often  represented ; 
it  is  deeply  seated  in  Protestantism  itself,  and  is  so  far  a 
matter  of  general  Protestant  interest.  Suppose  that  in 
Prussia  church  and  state  should  be  suddenly  severed ;  the 
same  state  of  things  would  at  once  arise  here.  The  parties 
now  in  conflict  within  the  Established  Church,  would 
embody  themselves  in  as  many  independent  churches  and 
sects,  and  you  would  have  an  Old  Lutheran  Church,  a 
New  Lutheran  Church,  a  Reformed  Church,  a  United 
Church — and  that  again  divided  into  a  union  positively 
resting  on  the  symbols,  and  a  union  acknowledging  only 
the  Scriptures — perhaps,  also,  a  Schleiermacherian  Church, 
and  who  knows  how  many  spiritualistic  and  rationalistic 
sects  and  independent  single  congregations  besides.  Ame 
rica  in  fact  draws  all  its  life  originally  from  Europe.  It  is 


THE     SECT     SYSTEM.  121 

not  a  land  of  new  sects ;  for  those  which  have  originated 
there,  as  the  Mormons,  are  the  most  insignificant,  and  have 
done  nothing  at  all  to  determine  the  religious  character  of 
the  people.  It  is  only  the  rendezvous  of  all  European  church 
es  and  sects,  which  existed  long  before,  either  as  estab 
lishments  or  as  dissenting  bodies.  England  and  Scotland 
have  almost  as  many  different  religious  bodies  as  the 
United  States,  with  the  single  difference  that  in  the  former 
countries  one  (the  Episcopal  in  England,  the  Presbyterian 
in  Scotland)  enjoys  the  privilege  of  state  patronage,  while 
in  America  all  stand  on  the  same  footing. 

In  forming  our  judgment  of  the  American  sect  system, 
therefore,  we  are  led  back  to  the  general  question,  whether 
Protestantism  constitutionally  involves  a  tendency  towards 
denominationalism  and  sectarianism,  wherever  it  is  not 
hindered  by  the  secular  power.  This  we  cannot  so  very 
easily  deny.  Protestantism  is  Christianity  in  the  form,  of 
free  subjectivity ;  of  course  not  an  unregeneratc  subjecti 
vity,  resting  on  natural  reason — for  this  is  the  essence  of 
rationalism — but  a  regenerate  subjectivity,  based  on  and 
submitting  to  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  thus  distinguished 
from  Catholicism,  which  takes  Christianity  in  an  entirely 
objective  sense,  as  a  new  law,  and  as  absolute  authority, 
and  does  not  therefore  allow  national  and  individual  pecu 
liarities  at  all  their  full  right  and  free  development.  In 
the  first,  the  centrifugal  force  predominates;  in  the  second, 
the  centripetal — there  freedom,  here  authority.  And  to 
harmonize  perfectly  these  two  opposite  yet  correlative  prin- 

6 


122      GENERAL    ECCLESIASTICAL    CONDITION    OF   THE    U.    S. 

ciples,  is  the  highest,  but  also  the  most  difficult,  problem  of 

history. 

[  Accordingly  it  is  the  great  work  and  the  divine  mission 

;of  Protestantism,  to  place  each  individual  soul  in  imme- 

;  diate  union  with  Christ  and  his  Word  ;  to  complete  in 
each  one  the  work  of  redemption,  to  build  in  each  one  a 
temple  of  God,  a  spiritual  church  ;  and  to  unfold  and  sanc 
tify  all  the  energies  of  the  individual.  But,  through  the 
sinfulness  of  human  nature,  the  principle  of  subjectivity 
and  freedom  may  run  out  into  selfish  isolation,  endless  divi 
sion,  confusion,  and  licentiousness;  just  as  the  principle  of 
objectivity,  disproportionately  applied,  leads  to  stagnation 
and  petrifaction ;  the  principle  of  authority,  to  despotism 
in  the  rulers  and  slavery  in  the  ruled.  In  North  America, 
the  most  radically  Protestant  land,  the  constitutional  infir 
mities  of  Protestantism,  in  religious  and  political  life,  are 
most  fully  developed,  together  with  its  energy  and  restless 
activity  ;  just  as  the  natural  diseases  of  Catholicism  appear 

\  most  distinctly  in  the  exclusively  Roman  countries  of 
southern  Europe. 

Now  in  this  unrestrained  development  and  splitting  up 
of  Christian  interests,  most  palpable  in  America,  the 
Ptornan  Catholic  sees  symptoms  of  an  approaching  dissolu 
tion  of  Protestantism  and  the  negative  preparation  for  its 
return  into  the  bosom  of  the  only  saving  church.  But 
such  a  relapse  to  a  position  already  transcended  in  church 
history,  such  an  annulling  of  the  whole  history  of  the  last 
three  centuries,  is,  according  to  all  historical  analogy, 


TRUE     MISSION     OF    PROTESTANTISM.  123 

impossible.  IIow  inconceivable,  that  in  this  age  of  the 
general  circulation  of  literature,  the  Book  of  all  books  can 
again  be  taken  away  from  the  people,  and  all  the  liberties, 
hard  won  by  the  Reformation,  obliterated !  Catholicism 
can,  indeed,  draw  over  to  itself  as  it  has  lately  done  in 
Germany,  England,  and  America,  individuals,  tired  of  the 
Protestant  confusion  and  uncertainty,  having  no  patience 
with  the  present,  and  no  faith  in  the  future,  longing  for  a 
comfortable  pillow  of  absolute,  tangible  authority.  But 
Protestantism  in  the  mass  can  never  be  swallowed  up  by 
it;  or  if  it  should  be,  it  would  soon  break  out  again  with 
increased  violence,  and  shake  the  Eoman  structure  still 
more  deeply  than  it  did  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

We  believe,  indeed,  by  all  means,  that  the  present  divid 
ed  condition  of  Protestantism,  is  only  a  temporary  trans 
ition  state,  but  that  it  will  produce  something  far  more 
grand  and  glorious,  than  Catholicism  ever  presented  in  its 
best  days.  Protestantism  after  all  still  contains  the  most 
vigorous  energies  and  the  greatest  activity  of  the  church. 
It  represents  the  progressive  principle  of  history.  It 
is  Christianity  in  motion.  Hence  more  may  be  expected 
from  it  than  from  the  comparative  stagnation  of  the 
Roman  or  Greek  Catholicism.  Converted  regenerate  indi 
viduals,  these  subjective  Protestant  heart-churches,  are  the 
living  stones  for  the  true  Evangelical  Catholic  Church,  which 
is  to  combine  and  perfect  in  itself  all  that  is  true  and 
good  and  beautiful  in  the  past.  But  this  requires  the 
previous  fulfillment  of  the  mission  of  Protestantism,  the 
transform i no-  of  each  individual  man  into  a  temple  of 


124      GENERAL    ECCLESIASTICAL    CONDITION    OF   THE    U.    S. 

God.  Out  of  the  most  confused  chaos  God  will  bring 
the  most  beautiful  order ;  out  of  the  deepest  discords, 
the  noblest  harmony  ;  out  of  the  most  thoroughly  deve 
loped  Protestantism,  the  most  harmonious  and  at  the  same 
time  the  freest  Catholicism.  What  wild  controversy 
has  already  raged,  what  violent  passion  has  been  kindled 
among  theologians,  about  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist ! 
And  yet  this  sacrament  is  the  feast  of  the  holiest  and 
deepest  love,  the  symbol  of  the  closest  fellowship  of  Christ 
and  the  church.  The  one,  holy,  universal,  apostolic 
church  is  an  article  not  only  of  faith,  but  also  of  hope,  to 
be  fully  accomplished  only  with  the  glorious  return  of 
Christ. 

In  America  are  found,  in  some  degree,  as  a  preparation, 
for  this  great  end,  all  the  data  for  the  problem  of  the 
most  comprehensive  union.  For  there,  not  only  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  confessions,  but  also  the  English 
and  all  the  European  sections  and  forms  of  the  church  are 
found  in  mutual  attrition  and  in  ferment.  But,  of  course, 
Europe  likewise,  especially  Germany  and  England,  must 
have  its  part  in  the  work ;  nay,  must  make  the  beginning. 
For  Europe  still  stands  at  the  head  of  Christian  civi 
lization,  and  is  ever  producing  from  her  prolific  womb  new 
ideas  and  movements,  which,  through  the  growing  facility 
and  frequency  of  inter-communication,  the  swelling  emi 
gration,  and  the  exportation  of  elements  of  literature  and 
culture  of  every  kind,  at  once  make  themselves  felt 
in  America,  perpetuate  themselves  there  in  modified  forms, 
and  come  into  immediate  contact  and  conflict,  so  as  to 


THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS.        125 

bury  themselves  in  each  other,  and  riso  again  as  the 
powers  of  a  new  age  in  the  history  of  the  world  and  the 
church.  Therefore  have  I  called  America,  even  in  respect 
to  religion  and  the  church,  the  Phenix-grave  of  Europe. 

4Mb 

II.    THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

I  proceed  now  to  consider  the  several  confessions ; — 
"denominations"  they  are  called  in  America,  because  the 
difference  is  in  fact  often  merely  nominal,  and  relates  not 
so  much  to  the  doctrinal  confession,  as  to  government, 
worship,  and  outward  usages.  In  this  sketch  I  will  confine 
myself  to  the  most  important  and  influential  denominations 
which  represent  the  proper  ecclesiastical  life  of  the  United 
States.  Besides  these  there  is,  to  be  sure,  a  legion  of 
smaller  sects,  some  of  English  origin,  some  of  German,  and 
some  of  American ;  the  Shakers,  the  Tunkers,  the  River 
Brethren,  the  Seventh-day  Baptists,  Schwenkfeldians, 
Weinbrennerians,  Svvedenborgians,  Universalists,  &c.  But 
it  were  unfair  and  ridiculous  to  judge  American  Christi 
anity  by  these.  They  have  not,  in  fact,  made  near  so  much 
noise,  nor  exerted  near  so  much  influence  on  the  American 
church,  as  even  the  German  Catholics  and  the  rationalistic 
"free  societies"  upon  the  German.  Most  of  these  smaller 
•sects,  too,  soon  run  their  course  and  become  mere  petrifac 
tions.* 


*I  must  warn  ray  German  readers  against  the  ridiculous  caricatures  of 
American  Christianity  which  abound  in  European  works.  Such  an  one  haa 
appeared  quite  recently  in  the  last  volume  of  the  learned  Roman  Catholic 


12G        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

In  America,  as  elsewhere,  the  leading  and  most  com 
prehensive  division  in  the  church  is  that  of  Protestantism 
and  Romanism.  The  former  embraces  the  great  mass  of 
the  population  ;  many  thousands,  however,  holding  only  a 
very  loose  and  outward  connection  with  it,  and  not  being 
formal  members  of  any  particular  church,  though  they 
regularly  attend  public  worship.  These  nominal  Protestants, 
many  of  them  not  even  baptized,  correspond  to  the  number 
less  nominal  Christians  in  European  state  churches,  who, 
though  they  have  been  baptized  and  have  professed  their 
Catholic,  or  Lutheran,  or  Reformed  faith,  care  no  more 
about  the  church,  than  if  they  were  heathens  or  Moham 
medans. 

In  Protestantism  we  may  again  distinguish  the  English 
and  the  German  groups  of  confessions.  To  the  English 
belong  the  Congregationalists,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Epis 
copalians,  the  Quakers,  the  Methodists,  and  the  Baptists; 
tlit1  last  two  having  also  German  branches.  The  Reformed 
i  Hiu-li  are,  it  is  true,  of  Low  Dutch  origin,  but  they  have 
become  in  language  entirely  English,  and  are  closely  related 


Encyclopedia  of  Wetzer  and  Welte  (vol.  xi.,  Freiburg,  ISM,  p.  49  sq.).  There, 
in  a  long  article  on  America,  we  read  of  a  number  of  sects,  of  which  we  never 
heard  in  our  life,  and  whose  existence  must  be  confined  to  the  private  opinions 
of  some  eccentric  and  deranged  heads,  and  such  may  be  found  anywhere  in  the 
Romish  Church  as  well  as  the  Protestant.  It  was  not  without  a  smile  that  we. 
saw  there  "  Bethlehcmites,"  "  Sionites,"  "  Bryonites  "  (who  are  reported  to  pluck 
out  their  right  eye  in  literal  understanding  of  Matth.  5,  29  !),  "  Ranters  of  the 
right  arm,"  "  Latitudinarians,"  "Six  Article  and  Ten  Article  Baptists,"  "  Taber- 
naculists,"  "  Bible-Christians "  (who  live  on  water  and  vegetable  food !) 
and  "  Atheists,"  figuring  along  side  of  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  Puritans 
and  Methodists,  as  if  they  were  of  equal  importance. 


THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS.  127 

to  the  Presbyterians.  The  Huguenots,  who  emigrated 
after  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  have  nearly 
all  fallen  in  with  the  Presbyterian  and  Episcopal 
churches,  and  the  French  language  is  rarely  used  in 
public  service  in  the  United  States,  excepting  for  the 
numerous  Roman  Catholic  Frenchmen  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  especially  Louisiana.  The  German  group 
embraces  the  Lutheran,  Reformed,  and  United  Churches, 
and  the  Moravian  Brethren. 

All  these  may  be  reckoned  to  orthodox  and  evangelical 
Protestantism,  since  they  adhere  in  their  symbols  to  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Reforma 
tion,  and  manifest  a  corresponding  Christian  life.  The 
Baptists  and  Quakers  stand  on  the  extreme  limit  of  ortho 
dox  Protestantism,  and  accordingly  come  nearest  to  being 
sects  in  the  strict  sense  ;  though  the  Baptists  are  very 
numerous.  The  Episcopalians,  on  the  other  hand,  form 
the  extreme  right  wing  of  Protestantism  and  are  the 
nearest  akin  to  Catholicism,  especially  in  the  high-church 
or  Puseyite  section.  The  German  churches,  we  may  say, 
generally  hold  middle  ground  between  the  Episcopal  and 
the  Presbyterian. 

There  are  other  religious  parties,  which  stand  in  radical 
opposition  to  both  the  Evangelical  Protestant  and  Roman 
Catholic  Churches,  and  thus  form  a  group  by  themselves — 
as  the  Universalists  and  the  Mormons.  The  latter  have 
recently  attracted  so  much  notice,  though  undeservedly,  even 
in  Europe,  that  I  must  pay  them  also  some  attention  here. 

We  will  first  consider  the  Protestant  communions,  partly 


128  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

in  the  order  of  their  importance  for  America,  partly  in  the 
order  of  their  age;  then  contrast  with  them  the  Roman 
Church ;  and  lastly  describe  Mormonism,  the  irreconcila 
ble  foe  of  both  ;  only  remarking  further,  that  for  want  of 
the  necessary  helps  I  cannot  enter  into  detailed  statistics  ; 
though  these  at  any  rate  change  every  year.  All  I  wish  to 
do  is,  briefly  and  clearly  to  exhibit  the  reigning  life 
and  spirit  and  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  various 
denominations. 

(a)    THE    COXGREGATIONALISTS. 

TheCongregationalists,  or  Independents,  or  Puritans  in  the 
strict  sense,*  sprang  up  in  the  later  years  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ; 
but  their  roots  run  back  to  the  Calvinistic  reformation  in  Ge 
neva.  As  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  in  fact  to  some 
extent  under  Henry  VIII.,  two  tendencies  may  be  observed 
in  the  English  Church  ;  the  semi-Catholic,  which,  with  all 
its  opposition  to  the  Roman  Papacy,  would  still  preserve  as 
far  as  possible  the  medieval  character,  especially  in 
government  and  worship;  and  the  radically  Protestant, 
which  broke  all  connection  with  the  Catholic  tradition, 
considering  it  a  development  of  the  Antichrist,  and  with 
deep  moral  earnestness,  but  also  with  intolerant  and  stormy 
zeal,  insisted  on  transforming  the  whole  church  life  direct 
ly  from  the  Bible  on  the  model  of  Geneva  and  Zurich. 


*  In  the  wider  sense  the  Presbyterian  theology  also,  and  still  more  the  Baptist, 
may  be  called  Puritanic,  i.  e.,  radically  Protestant ;  for  they  push  the  opposi 
tion  to  Catholicism  in  dec-trine  as  far  as  the  Congregationalists. 


THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS.  129 

The  former  party  triumphed  under  the  gifted  and  mascu 
line  Elizabeth,  who  hated  Puritanism  even  more  than  the 
Papacy,  and,  on  political  grounds,  preferred  the  Episcopal 
order  as  forming  a  surer  support  for  monarchy  ("  no 
bishop,  no  king,"  being  the  motto  of  her  successor,  James 
I.),  and  a  more  splendid  court  and  state  attire.  True, 
Puritanism  afterwards  gained  the  ascendency  under  Crom 
well  after  a  bloody  civil  war  of  religion  ;  but  the  restora 
tion  of  the  Stuarts  soon  re-established  the  Episcopal 
Church  ;  yet  with  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  mighty 
influence  of  Calvinism  and  Puritanism,  which  it  to  this 
day  cannot  deny. 

But  in  New  England  Puritanism  found  a  safe  refuge 
and  an  unmolested  home.  There  it  has  revealed,  since  the 
landing  of  the  "Pilgrim  Fathers"  in  1620,  its  proper 
importance  for  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is  the  ruling 
sect  of  the  six  Northeastern  States,  and  has  exerted,  and 
still  exerts,  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  religious,  social 
and  political  life  of  the  whole  nation. 

Congregationalism  is,  in  general,  an  extreme  Calvinism, 
modified  by  the  English  character  and  peculiar  views  of 
church  government.  It  forms  the  extreme  left  wing  of 
orthodox  Protestantism,  maintaining  the  keenest  and  most 
unyielding  hostility  to  Romanism ;  though  allied  to  it  on 
the  other  hand  by  a  certain  Judaizing  spirit  and  rigid 
legalism.  Calvin,  with  all  his  religious  horror  of  the 
Papacy,  had  confessedly  a  strong  churchly  vein  ;  and,  with 
all  his  logical  acuteness,  a  turn  for  mystic  depth.  This  is 
especially  discernible  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  book 


130  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

of  his  Institutes,  and  his  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Supper, 
which  is  in  reality  more  akin  to  the  Lutheran,  than  to  the 
jejune,  or  to  use  his  own  exaggerated  and  unjust  term,  the 
"profane"  theory  of  Zuingle.  These  churchly  and  mystic 
elements  passed  on,  indeed,  into  the  German  Reformed  and 
the  Anglican  Churches,  but  were  gradually  thrown  aside 
by  the  Presbyterian  and  Puritanic  communions.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  that  where  Calvin's  rigid  doctrine  of  pre 
destination  has  prevailed,  his  view  of  the  Eucharist,  though, 
undeniably  contained  in  all  the  leading  symbols  of  the 
Reformed  Church  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century, 
even  in  the  Westminster  Confession,  has  .almost  entirely 
given  place  to  the  more  meagre  and  the  clearer  common  sense 
view  of  Zuingle ;  and  vice  versa.  In  their  doctrine  of  the 
church  and  the  sacraments,  as  well  as  in  their  views  of 
history  and  tradition,  the  Congregationalists  approach  the 
German  Rationalism,  or  at  least  that  last  form  of  Superna- 
turalism,  which,  through  the  intermediate  steps  of  the 
Rational  Supernaturalism  and  Supernatural  Rationalism, 
finally  passed  into  formal  Rationalism.  In  all  other 
respects,  however,  they  are  strictly  orthodox,  still  holding 
to  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms,  drawn  up 
by  an  assembly  of  Calvinistic  divines  in  London  in  1G42. 
On  many  points,  particularly  the  inspiration,  authenticity, 
and  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  they  still  maintain  the 
Protestant  orthodoxy  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  charge 
most  modern  German  theologians,  often  not  unjustly,  with 
a  dangerous  looseness.  New  England  has  produced  a 
series  of  able  divines,  such  as  Jonathan  Edwards  (a  man  of 


THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS.  131 

rare  piety,  deep  metaphysical  talent  and '  powerful  elo 
quence,  the  friend  and  co-laborer  of  Whitefield  in  the 
extensive  revival  of  the  last  century),  Bellamy,  Hopkins, 
Emmons,  Dwight,  Wood,  <fec.,  who  are  hardly  known  by 
name  in  Germany,  but  who  fill  an  important  chapter  in  the 
development  of  Calvinistic  theology,  and  may  claim  a  place 
in  our  manuals  of  doctrine  history.  This  "  New  England 
theology,"  however,  is  upon  the  whole  rather  dry  and 
jejune,  also  too  local  in  its  character,  and  not  sufficiently 
connected  with  the  general  history  of  theology.  At  pre 
sent  it  is  in  an  unsatisfactory  transition  state.  The  old- 
fashioned  Puritanism  of  the  seventeenth  century  does  not 
satisfy  the  scientific  wants  and  present  taste  j  while  a  great 
deal  of  New  School  Congregationalism  has  deviated  from 
the  path  of  Catholic  truth,  and  resolves  the  process  of  con 
version  and  regeneration  into  a  scheme  of  Pelagian  Utili 
tarianism.  Of  late,  German  philosophy  and  theology  is 
receiving  greatly  increased  attention  in  New  England,  and 
the  professors  in  Andover,  the  most  important  Congrega 
tional  seminary,  Drs.  Park,  Stowe,  and  Shedd,  are  well 
acquainted  with  it ;  Moses  Stuart,  author  of  several  Bibli 
cal  commentaries,  having  broken  the  way.  This  study 
of  the  German  literature  will  undoubtedly  greatly  stimu 
late,  enliven,  and  invigorate  the  New  England  mind,  which 
is  naturally  strong,  clear,  and  active  ;  but  it  may 'also  play 
into  the  hands  of  rationalistic  and  transcendental  tenden 
cies.  All  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  German  works, 
and  upon  the  natural  turn  of  mind  and  heart. 

But  the  leading  peculiarity  of  Congregationalism,  which 


132        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AXD  SECTS. 

essentially  distinguishes  it  even  from  the  Genevan  Calvin 
ism  and  the  Scottish  Presbyterianism,  lies  in  its  theory  of 
church  government,  which  exalts  and  develops  the  inde 
pendence  of  single  congregations.  In  this  it  goes  a  step 
beyond  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
forms  a  new  stage  in  the  unfolding,  or  at  least  in  the 
application,  of  the  Protestant  principle  of  religious  subjec 
tivity.  It  proceeds  on  the  ground,  that  each  congre 
gation  (hence  the  name,  Congregationalism)  is  a  com 
plete  church  of  Christ,  and  as  such  independent  of  all 
earthly  supervision  '  (hence  the  name  Independency) ; 
directly  united  to  Christ,  and  responsible  only  to  him  ; 
therefore  entitled  and  bound  to  choose  and  maintain  its 
own  officers,  and  conduct  all  its  own  affairs,  internal  and 
external,  as  prescribed  by  the  divine  word  itself.  Here, 
accordingly,  the  idea  of  the  church  coalesces  entirely  with 
the  idea  of  a  local  congregation,  and  in  place  of  an  organ 
ism  embracing  all  believers,  we  have  a  loose  conglomerate 
of  independent  religious  societies,  at  best  only  invisibly 
united.  It  is,  however,  a  very  good  feature  of  this  sys 
tem,  that  a  congregation  has  only  one  pastor  at  a  time,  and 
is  never  allowed  to  be  so  large  as  to  put  any  individual 
member  beyond  the  reach  of  a  conscientious  pastoral  super 
vision.  For  this  reason  there  are  forming  among  the 
Congregationalists,  and  in  America  in  general,  immigration 
entirely  out  of  view,  many  more  daughter  churches  with 
their  own  houses  of  worship  and  their  own  pastors,  than  in 
Europe.  In  Berlin  there  are  many  congregations,  each  of 
which,  on  the  American  plan,  would  easily  make  a  dozen. 


THE    COXGREGATIONALISTS.  133 

Then  there  is  an  important  distinction  made  in  each  con 
gregation  between  the  church,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
term,  or  the  number  of  communicants,  who  constitute  a, 
spiritual  association,  and  manage  all  the  spiritual  concerns 
of  the  charge ;  and  between  the  parish  or  ecclesiastical 
society,  which  is  a  civil  corporation  consisting  of  all  those 
who  attend  public  worship  and  contribute  to  the  support 
of  the  pastor,  and  have  the  control  of  the  secular  matters. 
The  transition  from  the  latter  to  the  former  is  marked  by  a 
solemn  covenant  and  act  of  reception,  which  in  fact, 
though  not  in  form,  corresponds  to  our  confirmation,  but 
which  is  left,  of  course,  in  America  to  the  free  will  of  each 
individual. 

This  idea  of  the  independence  of  single  congregations 
was  expressed,  as  is  well  known,  even  by  Luther  in  his  cor 
respondence  with  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  whom  he 
advised  in  their  isolated  condition  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  without  regard  to  ecclesiastical  authority ;  and  still 
more  clearly  by  the  fugitive  Franciscan,  Lambert  of  Avig 
non,  at  the  Homburg  Synod  in  1526.  But  it  could  never 
be  practically  carried  out  in  Germany  for  want  of  the 
material  for  such  independent  congregations.  In  England 
it  was  first  brought  forward  by  one  Brown,  a  preacher, 
towards  the  end  of  Elizabeth's  reign ;  and  hence  the  Con- 
gregationalists  were  at  first  called  Brownists.  But,  as  he 
afterwards  from  impure  motives  returned  to  the  Episcopal 
Church,  they  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  him, 
and  rejected  the  name.  With  better  reason  may  the  wor 
thy  minister,  John  Robinson,  be  regarded  as  the  proper 


134        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

father  of  the  American  Puritans,  He,  with  his  congrega 
tion,  fled  before  an  unrighteous  persecution,  in  1611,  from 
the  north  of  England,  first  to  Holland;  thence,  in  1620,  he 
sent  his  people,  with  solemn  prayer  and  fasting,  and  the 
most  earnest  exhortations  to  be  steadfast  in  the  faith  and 
grow  in  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  word  and  law  of  God, 
to  America,  intending  to  follow  them  with  the  next  party 
of  emigrants;  but  he  soon  after  died,  without  seeing  with 
his  bodily  eyes  the  beloved  land  of  his  hopes.  On 
the  inhospitable  shores  and  in  the  unbroken  wilds  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  which  have  since  been  transformed  by  Puri 
tan  industry  into  a  garden,  his  followers  and  friends 
increased  under  the  severest  privations  and  self-denials,  and 
became  the  stock  of  a  great  nation. 

The  Congregationalist  principle,  however,  is  not  fullv 
carried  out  even  in  New  England.  Its  operation  has  been 
modified  by  the  theocratic  institutions  of  the  early  settlers 
and  the  principle  of  Catholic  churchly  unity,  without 
which  the  principle  of  independency  must  run  out  into 
complete  atomism.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  soon  fol 
lowed  by  a  great  number  of  other  Puritans,  particu 
larly  in  '1630  by  the  founders  of  Boston,  Salem,  Hart 
ford,  New  Haven,  &c. ;  and  these,  like  most  of  their  Eng 
lish  brethren  in  faith,  were  not  properly  Independents 
at  all,  but  either  held  the  Presbyterian  principles  of 
church  government  or  were  willing  to  retain  even  the 
Episcopal  system,  with  essential  modifications.  Cotton 
and  Wilson  of  Boston,  Hooker  and  Stone  of  Hartford, 
Davenport  and  Hooke  of  New  Haven,  and  the  other 


THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS.  135 

ministers  who  accompanied  these  trains  of  emigrants, 
were  mostly  educated  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
regularly  ordained  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England, 
only  suffering  for  nonconformity,  but  never  having  estab 
lished  a  separate  church  organization.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson,  of  Leicester,  on  taking  the  last  view  of  the  coast 
of  England,  in  May,  1629,  for  Massachusetts,  addressed 
the  large  company  of  his  spiritual  children  and  fellow- 
passengers  in  these  words :  "  We  will  not  say  as  the  Sepa 
ratists  (Brownists)  are  wont  to  say,  at  their  leaving 
England: — Farewell,  Babylon — Farewell,  Rome;  but  we 
will  say,  Farewell,  dear  England — Farewell,  the  Church  of 
God  in  England,  and  all  the  Christian  friends  there.  We 
do  not  go  to  New  England  as  Separatists  from  the  Church 
of  England,  though  we  cannot  but  separate  from  corrup 
tions  in  it;  but  we  go  to  practise  the  positice  part  of 
church  reformation,  and  to  propagate  the  Gospel  in  Ame 
rica."  He  concluded  "  with  a  fervent  prayer  for  the  king, 
the  Church  and  State  in  England,  and  for  the  blessing  of 
God  in  their  present  undertaking  for  New  England." 

From  the  co-operation  of  these  two  classes  of  Puritans, 
there  arose  in  New  England,  in  the  course  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  a  theocratic  state  church,  with  a  common 
Calvinistic  confession  of  faith,  and  a  rigid  discipline ;  thus 
limiting  the  independence  of  the  several  congregations  by 
their  connection  with  the  whole.  The  "  Saybrook  Plat 
form"  of  1708  is  evidently  a  compromise  between  the 
Presbyterian  and  the  Congregational  principle.  And  even 
now  that  the  union  between  church  and  state  is  dissolved, 


136        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

the  Congregationalists  have  their  annual  and  semi-annual 
associations  and  consociations,  for  the  settlement  of  diffi 
culties  and  cases  of  discipline,  the  examination  and  ordi 
nation  of  candidates  of  the  ministry,  and  the  furtherance 
of  the  general  interests  of  the  church.  These,  indeed,  are 
not  permitted  to  trespass  on  the  jealously  guarded  rights 
of  the  single  congregations,  and  have  not  legislative,  but 
only  advisory,  power ;  yet  they  have  such  a  moral  influ 
ence,  that  ministers  or  congregations  obnoxious  to  their 
discipline  cannot  well  maintain  themselves  in  public  opi 
nion.  In  general  ecclesiastical  operations,  as  home  and 
foreign  missions,  educational  schemes,  the  establishment 
and  support  of  theological  and  scientific  institutions,  they. 
work  together  without  difficulty,  and  display  very  great 
activity.  Thus  the  Congregational  theory  in  New  Eng 
land  is  always  associated,  more  or  less,  with  Presbyterian 
practice. 

From  this  state  of  things,  therefore,  one  should  by  no 
means  judge  that  independent  .system,  to  which  so  many 
of  the  late  German  emigrants  incline,  on  account  of  their 
hatred  of  all  church  authority  in  matters  of  faith.  For 
these,  no  form  of  church  government  is  more  miserable 
than  the  independent ;  and  no  congregations  are  in  a 
worse  condition  than  those  cut  off  from  all  synodal  super 
vision.  Every  one  would  rule  and  govern,  yet  no  one 
understands  even  the  A  B  C  of  church  government.  Nay, 
would  that  they  were  Puritans,  in  the  good  sense  of  the 
word !  Would  that  we  had  multitudes  of  living  indepen 
dent  congregations,  which  the  truth  had  made  truly  free, 


THE     CONGREGATIONALISTS.  137 

and  able  to  govern  and  discipline  themselves  according  to 
tlie  word  of  God  !  This  were  a  real  advance,  to  be  desired 
even  for  Germany ;  na}T,  most  especially  for  Germany. 
Here — at  least  in  the  northern  and  eastern  parts — Protes 
tantism,  to  its  shame,  has  in  three  whole  centuries  pro 
duced  no  proper  congregational  life  at  all ;  and  Luther's 
lamentation  over  the  want  of  material  for  an  efficient  con 
gregational  government  growing  out  of  the  congregation 
itself,  must  still  prevail.  But  those  independent  German 
churches  in  America  are  infinitely  different  from  the  Bible- 
reading,  earnest,  rigid  Puritans.  They  are,  in  fact,  nothing 
but  licentious  rationalistic  communities,  which  employ  a 
preacher  as  a  hired  servant,  exclude  him  from  the  church 
council,  and  thus  trample  on  the  dignity  of  the  sacred 
office,  and  rather  hinder  than  favor  the  kingdom  of  God ; 
whereas,  among  the  Anglo-American  Congregationalists 
the  ministers  always  preside  ex-officio  in  the  church  coun 
cils,  take  the  lead  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters,  and  are  in 
general  very  honorably  treated  by  the  congregations,  and 
held  in  greater  respect  than  any  other  class. 

The  congregational  principle,  however,  even  in  its  best 
form,  and  in  union  with  living  faith  and  a  pure  confession, 
is  after  all  one-sided,  and  must  be  balanced  by  the  idea  of 
the  universal  church.  We  need  unquestionably  indepen 
dent  congregations,  in  which  the  general  priesthood  shall 
be  no  empty  name,  but  a  living  reality— and  this  is  the 
sinew  of  truth  in  Anglo-American  Congregationalism  ; 
but  these  congregations  ought,  at  the  same  time,  to  feel 
themselves  living  members  of  the  church  universal,  the 


138        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

one  undivided  body  of  Christ,  and  to  help  one  another 
with  the  hand  of  brotherly  love  in  every  good  work.  In 
this  respect  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  principles  of 
church  government  have  the  advantage ;  since  they  hold 
fast  the  idea  of  the  organic  unity  and  authority  of  the 
universal  church,  which  must  never  be  given  up.  True 
independence  and  freedom  is  not,  in  fact,  inconsistent  with 
rational  authority,  but  can  rightly  thrive  only  in  union 
with  it.  Most  of  the  Congregationalists,  too,  who  move 
from  New  England  to  the  middle,  southern,  and  western 
states,  commonly  attach  themselves  to  the  Presbyterians  of 
the  New  School,  whose  synods  have  legislative  power.  Of 
late,  however,  there  is  a  tendency  in  New  York  and  the 
western  states  to  form  strictly  Congregational  churches,  and 
it  is  not  impossible  that  the  New  School  Presbyterian 
body  may  split  yet  on  this  question,  and  on  the  rock  of 
slavery. 

Finally,  as  to  the  form  of  worship,  Puritanism  stands  at 
the  extreme  of  simplicity  and  meagre  ness.  In  this,  also,  it 
goes  beyond  Calvin.  Even  those  symbolical  forms  and 
ancient  church  usages,  which  he  either  approved  or  at 
least  tolerated  as  innocent,  it  rejects  on  account  of  their 
real  or  supposed  connection  with  the  abominated  Catho 
licism  ;  such  as  the  cross,  the  altar,  the  clerical  costume,  all 
liturgical  forms  of  prayer,  and  the  church  festivals,  even 
Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsuntide.  In  the  war  against 
these  things  the  Puritans  displayed,  in  the  days  of  Crom 
well,  the  same  pedantry  and  fanatism,  nay,  we  may  say  the 
same  formalism — only  reversed,  negative — as  the  Papists 


THE  CONGREGATIONALISTS.  139 

and  Episcopalians  in  their  zeal  for  them ;  and  gave  proof, 
that  an  extreme  spiritualism,  which  overlooks  the  true 
import  of  the  divinely  created  body,  very  easily  passes 
unawares  into  its  own  opposite.  Of  late,  however,  they 
have  considerably  softened  and  changed  in  this  respect. 
The  former  aversion  to  church  steeples,  bells,  organs,  and 
choirs  has  almost  disappeared ;  and  even  the  Gothic  archi 
tecture,  which  really  grew  out  of  the  Catholic  idea  of 
worship,  is  now  frequently  employed  in  Puritanic  New 
England.  In  general,  as  taste  and  artistic  talent  are  culti 
vated,  prejudice  against  any  union  of  religion  with  art  will 
disappear,  and  Christianity  will  be  seen  to  be  a  thoroughly 
penetrating  and  transforming  leaven  for  architecture,  paint 
ing,  sculpture,  music,  and  poetry^ras  well  as  for  everything 
else.  Nay,  there  is  even  danger  that  this  progress  of  taste 
in  America  may  lead  to  an  unwholesome  predilection  for 
outward  pomp,  splendor,  and  mere  form  in  church  matters, 
and  extinguish  the  old  Puritanic  earnestness. 

For  it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  this  Puritanic  worship, 
with  all  its  nationalistic  nakedness  and  its  barrenness  for  the 
imagination  and  the  heart,  has  yet  its  excellences.  If, 
from  fear  of  mechanical  formality,  the  use  of  liturgies  is 
unjustly  rejected,  so  that  even  the  prayer  of  all  prayers, 
which  the  Lord  himself  taught  the  disciples,  and  expressly 
enjoined  upon  them,  is  hardly  ever  heard  from  the  Puri 
tanic  and  Presbyterian  pulpits  of  America — though  the 
case  is  somewhat  different  in  England  and  Scotland — the 
gift  of  free  prayer,  on  the  contrary,  is  most  cultivated  in 
these  communions.  This  free  prayer,  however,  in  the  pul- 


140        TEE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

pit  itself,  commonly  assumes  involuntarily  a,  stereotyped 
form,  employing  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  nearly  the  same 
phrases,  yet  making  it  difficult  for  the  hearer  to  join,  since 
he  has  first,  to  appropriate  what  he  hears,  before  he  can 
form  it  into  his  own  prayer.  Just  in  proportion  as  the 
altar  service  and  the  sacramental  element  of  worship  is 
lost  sight  of,  the  sermon  receives  increased  attention.  It 
is  in  general  decidedly  evangelical,  urging  on  the  hearers 
repentance,  conversion,  and  sanctification ;  but  it  is  often 
too  didactic,  at  least  for  the  German  taste,  and  resembles 
rather  a  theological  essay;  while,  conversely  theological 
lectures  in  America  are  less  scientific  and  more  practical 
than  in  Germany.  Finally;  although  the  Puritans  and 
Presbyterians  likewise  go  too  far  in  rejecting  all  the  church 
festivals  and  the  whole  idea  of  the  church  year,  as  matters 
of  merely  human  tradition  and  liable  to  frequent  abuse  ;  yet 
it  must  be  granted,  that  they  observe  Sunday — or  as  they 
very  characteristically  prefer  to  call  it  the  Sabbath — much 
more  earnestly  and  worthily,  than  any  other  section  of 
Christendom.  That  this  day,  appointed  by  God,  and  no 
more  abolished  by  Christ  than  any  other  precept  of  the 
decalogue,  but  only  spiritualized  by  association  with  the 
resurrection,  should  be  profaned  and  degraded  to  a  day  of 
worldly  amusement  and  dissipation,  as  it  is  on  the  Euro 
pean  continent,  especially  in  such  a  city  as  Paris,  is  to  any 
American,  but  particularly  to  the  Puritanic  New  Englander, 
a  real  abomination  and  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  infidel 
ity  and  moral  corruption.  If  this  regard.for  the  Sabbath 
often  runs  into  Pharisaic  legalism  and  scrupulousness,  this  ex- 


THE    COXGREGATIONALISTS.  141 

tremo  is  still  far  less  injurious  to  the  public  morals,  especially 
in  a  country  where  church  and  state  are  separate,  than  the 
opposite  extreme  of  Sadducean  and  heathen  licentiousness. 

Puritanism,  from  its  proper  home  in  the  six  JSTew  Eng 
land  states,  has  directly  and  indirectly  exerted  a  greater 
and  in  general  more  beneficial  influence  on  the  whole  reli 
gious  life  of  America,  than  any  other  denomination,  I  make 
this  concession  the  more  readily,  since  I  myself  am  no 
Puritan,  and,  according  to  my  theological  education,  never 
can  be  one.  Puritanism  has  been  the  main  source  of  the 
energetic  spirit  of  enterprise,  the  moral  earnestness,  the 
practical  organizing  talent,  the  wholesome  principle  of  the 
multiplication  of  congregations,  each  with  only  one  pastor, 
the  zeal  for  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  for  missions,  for 
general  education,  for  higher  institutions  of  learning,  the 
liberality  towards  religious  and  benevolent  causes,  the 
strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  the  temperance  move 
ment,  the  opposition  to  slavery,  and  most  of  the  social 
reforms  of  that  country. 

But  it  has  also  nourished  unchurchly  tendencies  and  all 
forms  of  fanaticism  and  radicalism.  In  the  midst  of  the 
Puritan  churches  there  has  quite  imperceptibly  arisen  since 
the  end  of  the  last  century  Unitarianism,  a  semi-ration 
alistic  sect  in  doctrine,  but  highly  respectable  as  regards 
scientific  and  esthetic  culture  and  natural  morality,  espe 
cially  benevolence.  It  embraces  many  of  the  most  worthy 
and  cultivated  families  of  Boston,  the  American  Athens .; 
almost  the  whole  faculty  of  the  University  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  and  many  of  the  first  authors,  poets,  and  statesmen 


142        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

of  America,  as  Charming  (who  was  certainly  not  far  from 
the  kingdom  of  heaven),  Prescott,  Bancroft,  (who,  however, 
quite,  recently  professed  something  like  Trinitarian  opin 
ions),  Ticknor,  Longfellow,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Everett, 
Fillmore,  etc.  From  New  England  principally,  although 
not  exclusively,  originates  Universalism,  which  goes  much 
further  and  undermines  the  foundations  of  the  Gospel. 
New  England  is  the  chief  scene  of  the  extravagances  of 
Garrisonian  abolitionism  and  female  emancipation,  in  con 
nection  with  dangerous  leanings  to  a  skepticism  and  pan 
theism,  which  have  been  promulgated  in  writings,  public 
assemblies,  and  sometimes  even  from  the  pulpit,  by  such 
men  as  Theodore  Parker  and  Ralph  Emerson,  to  the  great 
sorrow  not  only  of  the  orthodox  Puritans,  but  even  of  all 
earnest  and  sober-minded  Unitarians. 

But  we  confidently  believe,  there  is  yet  salt  enough  in 
New  England  to  counteract  these  workings  of  decay.  The 
days  of  the  stiff,  gloomy,  old-fashioned  Puritanism,  how 
ever,  are  over.  Its  virtues  will  abide ;  but  its  defects  must 
give  place  to  a  more  free,  living  and  spiritual  conception 
of  Christianity  and  the  church. 

(b)    THE    PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  Presbyterian  church  of  America  came  chiefly  from 
Scotland  and  North  Ireland ;  but  it  has  received  also  a 
great  deal  of  material  from  the  anglicized  descendants  of 
the  Dutch,  French,  German  Reformed  and  Lutheran  emi 
grants.  Its  first  presbytery,  consisting  of  seven  ministers 


THE    PRESBYTERIANS.  143 

was  organized  in  Philadelphia  in  1705.  The  first  General 
Assembly  met  in  1789,  when  the  number  of  ministers 
amounted  to  188  with  419  congregations.  It  now  extends 
over  all  the  States  of  the  Union  except  New  England,  where 
Puritanism  takes  its  place.  It  is  without  question  one  of 
the  most  numerous,  respectable,  worthy,  intelligent,  and 
influential  denominations,  and  has  a  particularly  strong 
hold  on  the  solid  middle  class. 

My  sketch  of  this  church  may  be  brief,  as  the  Presby 
terians  essentially  agree  in  doctrine  and  worship  with  the 
orthodox  Congregationalists  just  described,  and  have  also 
the  same  confession  of  faith,  viz.,  the  Westminster  Confes 
sion  and  Catechism. 

Presbyterianisrn  really  differs  from  Puritanism  only  in 
its  form  of  government,  from  which  it  takes  its  name ; 
showing  what  importance  it  attaches  to  this  matter  in 
opposition  to  Independency  on  the  one  hand,  and  Episco 
pacy  on  the  other.  It  holds  to  the  idea  of  a  common 
church  government  and  of  binding  authority  of  synods,  to 
which  single  congregations  are  subject ;  but  it  rejects  all 
hierarchical  orders  and  teaches  on  the  contrary  the  offbial 
parity  of  all  the  clergy.  The  organization  is  essentially 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Scotch  Reformed  church — a  con 
sistent  application  of  the  synodical  and  presbyterial  prin 
ciple  on  the  basis  of  .strictly  Calvinistic  theology  and 
discipline.  At  the  head  of  each  congregation  stands  the 
consistory  or  congregational  council,  called  in  the  cdd 
Scotch  phrase  the  kirk-session.  This  consists  of  the 
pastor,  who  is  president  ex-officio,  and  of  elders  chosen  for 


144        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

life  from  the  congregation  ;  it  is  entrusted  with  the  admin 
istration  of  all  local  affairs  of  a  spiritual  nature.  A 
certain  number  of  ministers,  not  less  than  three,  with  as 
many  lay  elders  form  a  Presbytery,  which  holds  generally 
semi-annual  meetings ;  and  three  or  more  Presbyteries 
form  a  synod,  which  convenes  annually  and  superintends 
the  affairs  of  its  district.  Over  all  the  synods  stands  the 
General  Assembly,  which  meets  every  spring,  and  is  com 
posed  of  an  equal  number  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates 
from  all  the  Presbyteries.  It  is  the  highest  tribunal  in 
all  matters  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  and  has  not  only 
advisory  power,  like  the  Associations  of  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  but  legislative  functions,  so  that  a  minister  or 
congregation,  which  obstinately  resists  its  decrees,  is  liable 
to  a  formal  excommunication. 

In  1837  the  Presbyterian  church  split  into  two  parts, 
nearly  equal  in  size  and  influence,  the  Old  School  and  the 
New  School  branches,  as  they  are  called,  which  are  very 
jealous  of  one  another,  and  hold  no  formal  intercourse. 
The  separation,  which  with  more  patience  and  love 
perhaps  might  and  should  have  been  avoided,  was  occa 
sioned  as  much  by  personal  collisions  and  local  interests  as 
by  any  real  differences  in  doctrine.  It  has  contributed, 
however,  to  the  numerical  increase  of  the  churches,  minis 
ters,  colleges,  seminaries,  and  benevolent  contributions ; 
for  the  Old  School  alone  is  now  as  large  as  the  whole 
Presbyterian  church  was  at  the  time  of  the  division.  The 
Old  School  is  in  general  the  more  strictly  orthodox, 
conservative,  and  centralized  in  its  operations.  The  New, 


THE    PRESBYTERIANS.  145 

indeed,  likewise  acknowledges  the  Westminister  Confession 
as  its  symbol,  and  reckons  among  its  members  many  as 
decided  Calvinists  as  there  are  in  the  other  branch ;  but  it 
reserves  .to  itself,  as  a  body,  greater  freedom  and  a  wider 
range  in  the  theological  development  of  its  standards, 
especially  as  regards  the  doctrines  of  original  sin  and  pre 
destination  ;  and  as  to  church  polity  it  holds  in  some 
respects  middle  ground  between  the  old  Scotch  Presby- 
terianisin  and  Congregationalism.  There  is  a  like  diffe 
rence  among  the  Congregation alists  in  New  England  ;  but, 
in  the  absence  of  a  general  church  organization,  it  has 
taken  no  such  organized  form.  The  New  School  also  is 
composed  of  quite  heterogeneous  material,  and  by  the 
perpetual  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  and  other 
points  of  difference  is  threatened  almost  every  year  with  a 
new  division,  which  it  can  hardly  long  escape  ;  while  some 
of  its  members  have  already  returned  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Old  School. 

Both  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  church  have  re 
cently,  like  the  Puritans,  felt  the  influence  of  German 
theology,  which  in  spite  of  very  strong  and  sometimes  cer 
tainly  not  unfounded  prejudices,  will  exert  an  increasing 
influence  for  good  and  for  evil.  The  professors  at  Prince 
ton,  the  leading  seminary  of  the  Old  School,  .Drs.  Hodge, 
Add.  Alexander,  and  Green,  and  the  professors,  Drs. 
Robinson  and  Smith,  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary 
at  New  York,  the  most  important  institution  of  the  New 
School,  have  made  themselves  acquainted  with  German 
theology,  some  of  them  by  a  residence  in  Germany  for' 

T 


146        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

the  purpose,  and  pay  constant  regard  to  it  in  their  writ 
ings. 

Besides  these  two  sections  of  the  Presbyterian  family, 
there  are  in  America  other  smaller  Presbyterian  commu 
nions,  differing  from  the  former  only  in  some  very  unessen 
tial  usages,  and  originating  in  the  older  secessions  from  the 
Scottish  Establishment ;  as,  the  Seceders,  the  Associate 
Reformed,  and  Reformed  Presbyterian  bodies.  The  Cum 
berland  Presbyterians  are,  on  the  contrary,  of  American 
growth,  and  were  excommunicated  by  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  (1810) 
for  leaning  to  Arminianism  and  Methodistic  measures. 

(c)    THE    REFORMED    DUTCH. 

Next  in  order  we  may  mention  the  Protestant  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  not  on  account  of  its  numerical  strength 
and  importance,  which  is  very  limited,  but  on  account  of 
its  age  and  its  close  affinity  with  the  communion  just 
described  and  its  medium  position,  as  it  were,  between 
Old  School  Presbyterianism  and  Episcopacy,  to  which  we 
shall  presently  come.  It  is  properly  the  oldest  Protestant 
denomination  in  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Episcopal  church,  which  dates  from  the  coloniza 
tion  of  Virginia  in  1607.  For  as  early  as  1614  the 
Hollanders,  in  whose  service  the  English  commander, 
Henry  Hudson,  had  discovered  the  river  called  by  his 
name  a  few  years  before,  began  to  settle  on  its  beautiful 
banks  and  laid  the  foundation  of  New  Amsterdam,  which 


THE   REFORMED    DUTCH.  147 

subsequently  changed  its  name  to  that  of  New  York  and 
became  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  New  World. 
The  Dutch  Reformed  church  was  even  the  established 
church  in  the  New  Netherlands,  though  it  freely  tolerated 
the  others  till  the  surrender  of  the  colony  to  England  in 
1664.  Thus  it  is  closely  interwoven  with  the  history  of 
the  "  Empire  State."  It  formed,  for  more  than  a  century, 
only  a  branch  of  the  mother  church  in  Europe,  and  stood 
under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  Classis  of  Amster 
dam,  which  to  this  day  has  the  charge  of  the  churches 
in  the  Dutch  colonies.  But  this  dependence,  at  first  natu 
ral  and  beneficial,  became  gradually  troublesome  on 
account  of  the  intervening  distance,  and  interfered  with  the 
growth  of  the  daughter.  Finally,  after  a  good  deal  of 
violent  controversy  between  the  old  Dutch,  and  the  young- 
Dutch  parties,  which  led  even  to  a  formal,  though  but  tem 
porary,  schism,  it  assumed  an  .independent  organization 
with  the  consent  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  and  the 
Synod  of  North  Holland  in  1771,  under  the  conciliatory 
influence  mainly  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Livingston,  the  first 
theological  professor  of  its  own  Seminary. 

From  that  time  nearly  all  connection  with  the  mother 
church  ceased,  and  even  the  Dutch  language  rapidly 
passed  away  from  the  pulpit  and  the  school,  where  for  a 
long  time  it  had  been  exclusively  employed.  The  young 
generation  grew  up  altogether  English,  and  received  no 
new  increase  from  Holland,  which  preferred  sending  its 
surplus  population  to  its  own  colonies  in  the  East  and  West 
Indies.  The  neological  movements,  which  have  agitated 


148  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

the  Reformed  church  of  Holland,  especially  the  Universi 
ties  of  Groningen  and  Leyden,  since  the  end  of  the  last 
century,  and  nearly  set  aside  there  the  authority  of  the 
articles  of  Dort,  have  not  affected  the  American  Dutch 
church  in  the  least.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  the  modern 
Evangelical  movements,  and  the  influences  of  the  better 
German  theology,  which  are  now  increasingly  felt  in  the 
mother  country,  as  they  were  from  the  time  of  Ursinus 
and  Olevianus  to  that  of  Lampe,  and  which  are  now  doing 
a  good  commensurate  with  the  evil  wrought  by  the  German 
rationalism  of  the  preceding  period,  have  left  it  entirely 
untouched.  A  pretty  large  party  in  this  denomination,  con 
sisting  mostly,  I  suppose,  of  ministers  who  originally  came 
from  the  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians,  has  even 
seriously  agitated  the  question,  recently,  of  the  propriety  of 
giving  up  the  name  Dutch  altogether,  which  has  a  rather 
bad  sound  in  some  of  the  States,  being  improperly  used  as  a 
term  of  contempt  for  German.  But  others  feel  justly  proud 
of  the  land  of  their  forefathers,  which  occupies  such  a  dis 
tinguished  position  in  the  history  of  modern  civilization, 
political  liberty,  and  Protestant  Christianity,  and  of  the 
honorable  connection  of  their  church  with  the  history  of 
New  York.  They  also  fear,  not  without  reason,  that  the 
repudiation  of  the  distinctive  name  would  prepare  the  way 
for  the  final  absorption  of  their  congregations  by  the  more 
influential  and  progressive  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian 
churches,  to  which  in  fact  a  great  many  of  their  members 
have  already  gone  over.  To  this  must  be  added  legal 
difficulties  in  reference  to  the  title  to  cliurcli  property  ;  so 


THE    REFORMED  DUTCH.  149 

that,  for  the  present  at  least,  this  unimportant,  though 
characteristic  project  of  u  change  of  the  denominational 
name  may  be  considered  as  abandoned. 

The  Dutch  Reformed  church  is  confined  to  the  States  of 
New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  and  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
But  it  has  there  very  wealthy  and  respectable  congrega 
tions,  especially  the  Collegiate  churches  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  enormous  increase 
of  the  value  of  certain  donations  in  land,  became  the 
richest  ecclesiastical  corporation  in  America,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Episcopal  Trinity  church  in  the  same 
city.  It  has  also  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.-,  a,  theological 
Seminary  and  College  (Rutger's  College),  which  are  among 
the  best  endowed  literary  institutions  in  the  land,  although 
their  number  of  students  is  'small  and  almost  entirely  con 
fined  to  this  particular  denomination.  In  the  absence  of 
an  original  field  of  home  missionary  labor — for  the  recent 
emigration  from  Holland  to  the  Western  States  is  confined 
to  a  small  number  of  separatists  and  isolated  individuals — 
it  has  lately  made  an  effort,  to  enlarge  its  territory  and 
influence  by  establishing  congregations  out  of  foreign  Ger 
man  and  German  Reformed  material,  and  published  a  new 
German  hymn-book. 

In  doctrine  this  denomination  holds  to  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  but  more  especially  to  the  Decrees  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort.  The  former  is  practically  very  little  used 
now  amongst  the  Dutch.  They  neglect  the  regular  cate 
chetical  training  of  youth  in  the  old  style ;  reject  the 
rite  of  confirmation  ;  observe  none  of  the  leading  festivals, 


150  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

and  have  no  sympathy  whatever  with  the  churchly  ele 
ments  of  primitive  Protestantism,  in  which  they  can  see 
only  relics  of  Popery.  In  their  current  views  of  the  sacra 
ments  and  kindred  subjects  they  have,  it  seems,  fallen  in 
entirely  with  the  reigning  spirit  of  modern  American 
Puritanism  and  Presbyterianism,  which  adopt,  with  few 
exceptions,  the  low  Zuinglian  theory  in  spite  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  teaching  of  all  the  Reformed  confessions.  The 
76th  Question  of  the  Heideberg  catechism  must  appear  to 
them,  accordingly,  as  obsolete  mysticism  and  superstition. 
They  are  hardly  able,  in  their  present  condition,,  properly 
to  understand,  and  to  appreciate  the  German  origin  and 
genius,  the  Melanchthonian,  conciliatory,  and  catholic  spirit 
of  this  admirable  production.  But  in  regard  to  the  mys 
tery  of  predestination  they  are  said  to  be  more  rigidly 
Calvinistic  than  even  the  Old  School  Presbyterians,  and 
determine  here  the  sense  of  the  cautious  and  moderate 
Catechism  by  the  express  teaching  of  the  anti-Armenian 
Synod  of  Dort,  held  more  than  fifty  years  later.  They  are 
generally  considered,  with  the  above  qualification,  as  the 
stiffest  and  most  immovable  of  all  the  most  respectable 
Protestant  churches  in  America,  and  would  fain  be 
regarded  as  the  very  Gibraltar  of  old-fashioned  Protest 
antism,  in  the  happy  dream  that  the  venerable  Synod 
of  Dort  settled,  all  theological  questions  in  1618,  and 
left  us  nothing  to  do  but  to  renew  from  time  to  time  a 
sweeping  commonplace  protest  against  Arminianism,  and 
more  especially  against  Popery,  as  the  veritable  Antichrist 
and  enemy  of  all  civil  and  religious  freedom.  It  would 


THE    REFORMED    DUTCH.  151 

be  more  important  to  make  this  claim  good  by  positive 
achievements  in  theological  science.  But  the  ruling  party 
in  the  Dutch  Synod  seems  to  be  singularly  averse  to  every 
movement  which  threatens  to  disturb  in  the  least  the  com 
fortable  pillow  of  an  easy  traditional  orthodoxy,  and  to  lead 
to  more  liberal  views.* 

This  aversion  to  anything  new,  in  connection  with  some 
disappointments  of  a  personal  and  sectarian  nature  (not 
to  mention  less  honorable  motives),  was  the  principal 
cause  of  its  recent  conduct  towards  the  German  Reformed 
sister  church,  which,  however,  we  must  in  justice  add,  is 
sincerely  regretted  by  many  of  the  most  worthy  Dutch 
ministers  and  laymen  as  meddlesome  and  presumptuous, 
uncharitable  and  unwise.  Since  the  American  Dutch 
Church  has  no  prospect  of  enlarging  its  territory  without 
interfering,  more  or  less,  with  the  home  missionary  field  of 
other  denominations,  the  emigration  from  Holland  having 
almost  entirely  ceased,  it  is  the  more  desirable  that  it 
should  yield  to  a  freer  motion  within,  and  justify  its 
separate  denominational  existence  and  increase  its  useful- 

*  We  ought,  perhaps,  to  make  an  honorable  exception  in  favor  of  the  "  New 
Brunswick  Review,"  which  was  designed  to  parade  the  learning  and  orthodoxy 
of  a.  part  of  the  Dutch  body  before  the  theological  and  literary  world.  But  it 
has  been  already  suspended  after  one  year's  existence  (1854-55).  We  sin 
cerely  hope  it  may  not  sleep  as  long  as  the  famous  Low-Dutchman,  Rip  Van 
Winkle,  and  that  it  may  find  more  noble  and  profitable  work  to  do  hereafter, 
than  to  publish  ill-natured  and  ill-mannered  abuses  and  absurd  caricatures  of 
the  so-called  Mercersburg  Theolopry,  else  the  editor  might  bring  upon  himself 
another  such  withering  castigation  as  his  searching  neighbor  of  New  Brunswick 
felt  it  his.duty  to  inflict  upon  him,  in  the  service  of  truth  and  justice,  through  the 
columns  of  the  "  N.  Y.  Observer,"  for  June  15, 1854,  unless  he  should  be  regarded 
by  such  an  one  with  the  silence  of  contempt,  according  to  the  proverb  :  Le  jeu 
nc  vaut  pas  la  chandelle.  We  wish  him  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 


152  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

ness  by  such  contributions  to  the  theology  of  the  age, 
as  might  bo  expected  from  its  historical  origin,  its  own 
resources,  and  its  social  standing  iu  American^Christendom. 

Apart  from  this  theological  stagnation,  which  character 
izes  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Dutch  ministry,  it  is  said 
to  be  inferior  to  none  in  America  as  regards  general  culture 
and  ability,  and  takes  an  active  part  in  the  benevolent  ope 
rations  of  the  day,  especially  the  foreign  missionary,  Bible, 
and  tract  causes,  and  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union. 

The  government  and  discipline  of  the  Dutch  church  is 
almost  entirely  the  same  with  the  Presbyterian,  except  that 
in  it,  as  in  the  German  Reformed  body,  the  elders  and 
deacons  are  chosen  not  for  life,  but  for  a  term  of  years. 
This  seems  to  us  rather  an  advantage,  since  it  brings  more 
of  the  lay  force  of  the  church  into  official  activity  for  the 
common  good. 

In  worship,  the  Dutch  Reformed  denomination  has  not 
given  itself  up  to  the  exclusive  dominion  of  extempora 
neous  prayer,  which  rules  in  the  Puritan  and  Presbyterian 
bodies  of  America,  but  still  holds  fast  to  a  part,  at  least,  of 
the  old  Palatinate  liturgy,  though  it  is  now  engaged  in 
revising  and  modernizing  it. 


(d)    THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

This  is  the  oldest  Protestant  church  in  the  United 
States,  and  although  less  numerous,  popular,  and  energetic 
than  the  Puritans,  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  and  Baptists., 


THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  153 

has  easier  access  to  the  higher  circles  of  society,  especially 
in  the  large  cities,  and  the  best  prospects  of  a  steady  and 
substantial  growth.  It  was  transplanted  as  early  as  1007, 
with  the  new  colony  of  Virginia,  and  enjoyed  there  the 
privileges  of  an  established  church.  It  obtained  the  same 
advantage  afterwards  under  the  protection  and  influence 
of  the  English  government  in  the  colony  of  Maryland,  and 
also  in  New  York,  since  1693.  Nevertheless,  it  was  only 
a  weak  plant  before  the  Revolution,  and  was  merely  an 
appendage  to  the  diocese  of  the  bishop  of  London.  Its 
clergymen  could  be  ordained  only  in  England,  and  were 
mostly  sent  to  it,  and  in  part  supported,  by  the  "  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts," 
founded  in  1701.  Different  attempts  were  made,  indeed, 
to  choose  a  proper  colonial  bishop — without  which  a 
district  so  far  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  London  prelate 
could  not  possibly  thrive — but  they  always  failed.  At 
last,  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother  coun 
try  made  an  independent  organization  indispensable,  and 
after  many  difficulties,  an  act  of  parliament  was  finally 
passed,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war  of  independence, 
empowering  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  London  to  consecrate  three  bishops  for  the 
dioceses  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Virginia  (1787). 
Another  bishop,  Seabury,  had  been  already  ordained  a  few 
years  before,  in  1784,  in  the  independent  Episcopal 
Church  in  Scotland  for  the  diocese  of  Connecticut. 
From  these  descends  the  American  Episcopal  succession, 
which,  on  account  of  difficulties  arising  in  England,  but 

7* 


154  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

soon  removed,  Bishop  White,  of  Philadelphia,  has  already 
been  searching  for,  in  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Denmark, 
where  the  succession  was  confessedly  broken  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

Since  that  time  the  Anglican  church  has  formally  estab 
lished  itself  in  the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  made,  not  very 
rapid,  but  quiet  and  steady  progress. 

It  does  not  properly  correspond  so  well  as  the  Puritan 
and  Presbyterian  churches  to  republican  institutions ;  and 
on  account  of  the  English  sympathies,  which  a  large  num 
ber  of  its  clergy  cherished  for  very  obvious  reasons,  during 
the  Revolutionary  war,  it  incurred  suspicion  of  a  want  of 
patriotism,  and  was,  therefore,  for  a  long  time  unpopular. 
Yet,  it  has  in  its  favor  stanch  old  English  traditions,  an 
important  theological  and  practical  religious  literature, 
and  a  name  of  renown  even  in  the  history  of  America — 
for  Washington,  for  instance,  and  most  of  the  great 
statesmen  of  Virginia,  belonged  to  it — and  by  its  compact, 
imposing,  and  personally  responsible  form  of  government, 
and  its  liturgical  worship,  without  any  special  missionary 
efforts,  it  has  a  strong  attraction  for  the  higher  classes  and 
the  polite,  yet  would-be  religious  world.  It  may  be  called, 
in  a  certain  sense,  the  aristocratic  and  fashionable  church 
of  the  United  States,  which,  however,  involves  at  the  same 
time  a  serious  defect,  since  in  the  church  of  Christ  all 
distinctions  of  society  ought  to  disappear  in  the  feeling  of 
common  guilt  and  common  salvation,  and  before  the  awful 
realities  of  the  eternal  world.  From  its  clergy  the  Presi- 


THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  155 

dent  chooses  most  of  the  chaplains  for  the  array  and  navy. 
In  the  country,  in  the  lower  orders  of  society,  and  in  the 
west,  it  has  very  feeble  hold ;  but  in  the  great  cities  of  the 
east  it  is  wealthy  and  strong.     In  New  York,  for  example, 
it  possesses,  not  by  any  means  the  most  intelligence  and 
piety — in  these  it  must  yield  to  the  Presbyterian — but  the 
greatest  outward  splendor,  the  most  imposing  and  costly 
churches,  and  the  fattest  livings.     With  a  mass  of  high 
flying  men   of  the  world,  who  attend  its  worship  merely 
for  fashion's  sake,  and  perhaps  also  for   the   music,  but 
never  think  of  such  a  thing  as  thorough  conversion,  it 
numbers  among  its  members  many  truly  pious  persons, 
whose   religious   life  is    more    evenly  and   harmoniously 
formed,  than  that  of  most  Puritans.     The  large  accession 
which   the   Episcopal  Church    continually  receives  from 
other   denominations,   is,  by   no   means,    to   be   referred 
entirely  to  outward  considerations,  but,  in  many  cases,  to 
deeper  inward  grounds.     Many  laymen,  and  even  Puri 
tanically  or  Methodistically  educated  clergymen,  pass  over 
to  it,  because  they  see  in  it  the  true  mean  between  the 
extremes  of  Puritanism  and  Romanism,  and  because  they 
think,  that  it  alone  equally  meets  both  the  evangelical 
Protestant  and  the    Catholic  interests.     Yet   many  such 
Episcopal  clergymen,  who  have  come  from  other  Protest 
ant  denominations,  have  been  driven  by  the  same  desire 
for  a  fixed  objective  ecclesiasticism  and  a  liturgical  altar- 
service,  beyond  this  via  media  into  the  Roman  camp. 

I  will  now  briefly  present  the  leading  features  of  this 
denomination  and  its  differences  from  the  mother  church, 


156        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  primarily  the  natu 
ral  continuation  of  the  English  established  or  national 
Church,  which  broke  off  from  Rome  under  Henry  VIIL, 
and  was  afterwards  under  Edward  VI.,  and  especially 
under  Queen  Elizabeth,  fixed  in  its  present  form.*  Its 
peculiarity,  it  is  well  known, -consists,  in  this:  that  in  the 
work  of  reformation  it  took  not  only  the  Bible,  but  also 
church  antiquity  for  its  rule,  and  hen c^  did  not  push  its 
changes  so  far  as  the  Protestant  churches  on  the  continent 
and  in  Scotland,  but  took  a  middle  position  between  the 
two  great  opposites.  It  is,  so  to  speak,  the  result  of  a 
treaty  or  compromise  between  the  Catholic  and  Evangeli 
cal  Protestant  principles,  outwardly  secured  by  the  Erastian 
principle,  or  the  supremacy  of  the  crown.  On  the  one 
hand,  in  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  it  is  Protestant,  and 
indeed  moderately  Calvinistic,  therefore  Reformed  ;  in 
many  points,  as  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  aver 
sion  to  pictures,  the  cross  and  altar,  it  shows  even  the 
influence  of  Puritanism.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  essen 
tially  Catholic  in  its  episcopal  hierarchy  (though  deprived, 
to  be  sure,  of  the  papal  head,  to  make  room  for  a  royal 
papacy)  and  in  its  liturgy,  which  with  only  the  omission 
of  some  specifically  Roman  elements,  is  an  altogether 
faithful  compilation  and  an  uncommonly  successful  trans 
lation  of  the  old  Catholic  church  prayers  and  formularies. 

*  The  designation  "  High-church,"  as  still  frequently  used  in  German  works 
for  the  Church  of  England,  is  altogether  wrong.  "High-church,"  in  English, 
is  not  a  noun  at  all,  but  an  adjective,  denoting  only  a  particular  party  in  the 
Anglican  church,  opposed  to  the  Low-church  party. 


THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Tims  it  stretches  out  one  hand  to  Geneva,  the  other  to 
Rome.  It  does  not  bring  the  two  principles  into  vital, 
organic  union,  but  merely  into  juxta-position.  It  is  not 
a  work  of  one  design  and  moulding,  but,  as  it  were,  an 
unfinished  pile  of  heterogeneous  materials,  and  yet  the 
mightiest  and  most  influential  national  church  which 
Protestantism  can  show,  and  the  one  which  can  most 
nearly  rival  Rome.  It  is  not  the  beating  heart  and  the 
thinking  head,  but  the  right  arm  and  the  political  and 
social  bulwark  of  Protestantism. 

Hence,  there  have  always  been  in  this  church  two 
parties,  which  have  as  little  real  communion  with  one 
another  as  two  separate  confessions  ;  and  which  both  have 
equal  ground  in  the  symbols  and  history  of  the  church,  and 
are  on  the  other  hand  equally  inconsistent.  The  nigh- 
church  party,  which  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  been 
most  earnestly  and  worthily  represented  by  Puseyism, 
takes  its  stand  on  the  episcopal  constitution  and  the  theory 
of  apostolic  succession,  and  more  than  all  on  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  In  spite  of  all  its  defects,  we  regard  this 
book  as  a  truly  national  English  work,  and — excepting 
perhaps  the  German  church  poetry — the  greatest  produc 
tion  of  Protestantism  in  the  sphere  of  worship.  It  is 
known  and  venerated  as  far  as  the  English  tongue  extends, 
even  by  non-episcopalians,  for  its  admirable  language,  if  for 
nothing  else,  in  regard  to  which  it  stands  related  to  Eng 
lish  literature  as  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible  to  Ger 
man.  If  now  this  party  should  pursue  only  the  churchly, 
priestly,  and  sacramental  element,  it  must  run  into  Roman- 


158        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

ism ;  and  many  Puseyites,  following  their  former  learned 
leader,  Dr.  Newman,  have  in  fact  gone  over  to  the  Roman 
Church.  But  there  arc  also  fortunate  and  morally  estim 
able  inconsistencies ;  and  in  matters  of  religious  conviction 
one  ought  not  to  follow  merely  the  laws  of  logic — other 
wise  the  most  rational  were  always  the  most  true — but  to 
regard  other  far  deeper  considerations.  The  Low-church 
party  stands  with  equal  right  on  that  thoroughly  Protes 
tant  symbol,  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Anglican 
church,  and  can  appeal  to  its  reformers  and  many  of  its 
greatest  bishops  and  divines,  who  were  not  only  Calvinis- 
tic  in  the  doctrine  of  election,  but  even  in  part  at  least 
Zuinglian  in  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments.  In  logical 
consistency  this  party  ought  to  be  Presbyterian  or  Puri 
tanical  in  its  fanatical  hatred  of  everything  Catholic,  and 
in  many  respects  it  actually  is  so  in  principle  ;  but  at  the 
same  time  it  still  cleaves  with  honest  love  to  the  episcopal 
constitution  and  to  that  "  venerable  daughter  of  the  Bible," 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

Thus  there  are  unreconciled  antagonisms  in  the  Anglican 

O  O 

Church.  It  contains,  in  some  sense,  the  material  for  a 
Protestant  Catholicism  or  Catholic  Protestantism ;  but  it 
lacks  that  unity  of  principle  and  idea,  which  inwardly 
reconciles  the  antagonism,  and  brings  the  Catholic  and 
Evangelical  elements  together  into  an  organic  whole. 
I  know  some  young,  talented,  and  amiable  Episcopal  cler 
gymen  in  America,  some  of  them  educated  in  German 
theology  and  philosophy,  who  feel  this  want,  and  see  more 
or  less  clearly,  that  above  the  abstract  antagonism  of  the 


THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  159 

stiff  objectivity  of  the  high  church  party  and  the  arbitrary 
subjectivity  of  the  low  church,  a  third  party  must  form 
itself,  which  shall  combine  the  elements  of  truth  on  both 
sides,  give  their  due  weight  to  the  interests  of  both  objec 
tive  and  subjective,  Catholic  and  Protestant  Christianity, 
and  thus  reconcile  the  two.  These  gentlemen  sympathize 
most  with  Hare,  Trench,  Maurice,  Kingsley,  Alford,  Cony- 
Jbeare,  Howson,  and  such  English  divines,  who  cannot  be 
numbered  with  either  of  the  extreme  parties,  and  have 
therefore  been  called  the  Broad-Church  School. 

This  general  character  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
shares  throughout  with  her  mother  in  England.  The 
whole  Puseyite  controversy,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  important  phenomena  in  the  history  of  Protestantism, 
somewhat  analogous  to  that  of  the  more  recent  strictly 
confessional  Lutheranism  in  Germany,  was  long  ago  trans 
planted  to  American  soil,  whither  indeed  the  vibrations  of 
all  European  movements  at  once  extend.  Almost  half  the 
Episcopal  ministers  there  are  more  or  less  Puseyistic, 
and  several  among  them,  even  a  bishop  (Dr.  Tves  of  North 
Carolina,  a  well-meaning,  but  weak  man),  disgusted  with 
Protestantism,  which  they  have  never  fully  understood, 
have,  like  many  of  kindred  mind  in  England,  deserted  to 
the  Roman  camp  ;  while  most  content  themselves  with  the 
idea  of  an  Anglo-Catholicism,  in  hope  of  a  future  closer 
union  with  the  Eastern  churches  and  the  Roman  bishop  as 
patriarch  of  the  West.  The  antagonism  and  party  spirit 
of  the  high-church  and  low-church  sections,  reveal  them 
selves  in  America  even  in  all  the  elections  of  bishops  and 


160        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

in  all  the  diocesan  and  general  conventions ;  yet  a  formal 
rupture  lias  thus  far  been  avoided.  They  have  had  much 
to  do,  also,  with  the  late  scandalous  processes,  to  which 
some  high-church  bishops,  the  now  justly  deposed  Onder- 
donk  of  New  York  and  the  still  acting  Doane  of  New 
Jersey,  who  holds  his  office  on  a  sort  of  confession  of  his 
guilt  in  squandering  other  people's  money  for  his  educa 
tional  establishment  at  Burlington,  have  been  subjected  by 
their  colleagues,  primarily  for  moral  offences.  These  trials 
have  seriously  injured  the  Puseyite  party  in  public  opi 
nion  ;  yet  they  show  at  the  same  time,  that  this  church 
still  exercises  a  discipline,  which  even  a  prelate,  in  high 
official  station,  cannot  escape.  It  must  also  be  as  readily 
conceded,  that  Puseyism  has  infinitely  more  worthy  repre 
sentatives,  than  either  of  the  above-named  prelates,  who 
have  acquired  a  celebrity,  anything  but  enviable,  more  by 
their  outward  position,  than  in  any  other  way. 

But  with  this  general  resemblance  to  the  English 
Church,  the  American  Episcopal  Church  has  certain  pecu 
liarities  growing  out  of  her  condition  there,  which  give 
her  even  an  advantage  over  her  still  far  larger  and 
more  powerful  mother  in  England.  We  refer  not  to  the 
inconsiderable  omissions  in  the  liturgy  (the  Athanasian 
Creed,  the  prayers  for  the  royal  family,  the  services  which 
relate  to  the  death  of  Charles  L,  the  restitution  of  the 
Stuarts  in  1660,  and  the  gunpowder  treason  under  James 
L),  most  of  which  her  .altered  political  condition  has 
required ;  but  to  modifications  in  the  whole  organization 
and  government. 


THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  161 

In  the  first  place,  by  its  separation  from  the  state  it  is  en 
tirely  relieved  of  the  inconsistency  of  a  royal  lay  episcopacy, 
or  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  crown,  as  it  is  called, 
which  in  England,  to  add  to  the  absurdity,  resides  at  pre 
sent,  as  formerly  in  the  days  of  the  maiden  Elizabeth,  in  a 
woman  ;  and  the  relative  passages  in  the  Thirty-nine  Arti 
cles,  the  Liturgy  and  the  Canons  have  been  stricken  out, 
or  essentially  modified.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  has  full  freedom,  and  the  invaluable 
right  of  self-government.  This  was  wrested  from  the 
Anglican  church  by  Henry  VIIL,  when  he  cut  off  from 
the  hierarchy  the  Roman  head  and  set  his  own  tyrant  head 
on  the  bleeding  stump.  True  the  convocation  or  legisla 
tive  synods  continued  ;  but  they  stood  altogether  under 
the  authority  of  Parliament  and  the  crown.  Since  171*7 
they  have  sunk  to  a  mere  shadow  and  solemn  farce ;  and 
the  earnest  endeavors  of  some  of  the  Puseyite  party  under 
bishop  Wilberforce  of  Oxford  to  revive  them,  have,  at 
least  thus  far,  been  frustrated  by  the  obstinate  opposition 
of  the  Erastians  or  emperor-papists. 

Then,  again,  the  American  Episcopal  Church  has  full  lay 
representation — a  Presbyterian  element — which  we  must 
likewise  regard  as  a  decided  advantage. 

Its  organization  is  this :  It  is  divided  into  dioceses 
according  to  the  political  divisions  of  the  country,  the 
names  of  the  dioceses  corresponding  to  the  number  and 
names  of  the  States ;  while  the  Roman  Catholics  name 
their  sees  after  the  larger  cities.  Only  the  great  State  of 
New  York,  has  two  dioceses — an  eastern  and  a  western. 


162        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

At  the  head  of  each  diocese  stands  a  bishop,  who  is  usu 
ally  at  the  same  time  rector  of  one  of  the  more  important 
congregations,  and  is  in  part  supported  by  it,  or  dra\vs  his 
salary  from  the  interest  of  a  special  fund,  or,  if  there  is  no 
such  fund,  or  if  it  is  not  sufficient,  from  the  annual  collec 
tions  made  by  his  Presbyters.  Every  spring  he  assembles 
all  the  Presbyters  of  his  district,  with  as  many  lay  dele 
gates  as  there  are  parishes,  in  a  diocesan  convention.  He, 
as  president,  opens  the  convention  with  a  charge,  consisting 
of  a  statistical  report  of  his  official  labors  during  the  past 
year,  with  appropriate  exhortations,  and  sometimes  theo 
logical  expositions.  Here  all  the  affairs  of  the  diocese  are 
attended  to.  To  this  body  belongs  also  the  power  of  elect 
ing  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  of  choosing  a  standing  com 
mittee  as  his  council,  and  of  presenting  him  for  trial. 
Every  three  years  the  General  Convention,  as  it  is  called, 
assembles  in  one  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  Union,  for  the 
most  part  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  alternately. 
Agreeably  to  the  arrangement  of  the  old  English  convoca 
tions  and  of  the  British  Parliament  and  the  American  Con 
gress,  this  convention  consists  of  two  houses,  an  upper,  or 
the  house  of  Bishops  (now  numbering  thirty-one  or  two), 
which  sits  with  closed  doors,  and  is  presided  over  by  the 
oldest  or  senior  bishop — for  there  are  no  archbishops  as  in 
England — and  a  lower,  or  the  house  of  clerical  and  lay 
deputies,  which  is  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  Pres 
byters  and  lay  delegates  from  all  the  dioceses,  none  being 
allowed  to  send  more  than  four  of  each  order,  and  which 
holds  its  deliberations  in  open  church.  This  triennial 


1HE    PROTESTAOT   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  163 

General  Convention  is  the  supremo  judicatory  of  tlio 
Episcopal  Church  in  all  matters  of  doctrine,  worship  and 
discipline.  The  concurrence  of  both  houses  is  necessary 
to  the  -enactment  of  a  law.  The  vote  is  counted  by  dio 
ceses.  The  house  of  bishops  has  a  veto  upon  the  acts  of 
the  lower  house.  This  power  may  prevent  many  useful 
reforms  but  also  many  useless  changes  or  dangerous 
innovations,  especially  in  an  age  and  country,  which  has  a 
morbid  passion  for  law-making. 

All  this  now  looks  very  well  on  paper.  But  in  reality 
one  has  to  observe  with  regret,  that  at  these  conventions,  as 
is  true  indeed  also  of  Presbyterian  synods,  and  as  must  be 
said  perhaps  still  more  of  the  ancient  ecumenical  coun 
cils,  to  say  nothing  at  all  of  the  Council  of  Trent — too 
much  party  spirit  and  passion  appear,  too  much  of  the 
notorious  odium  theologicum,  all  sorts  of  intrigue  and 
worldly  policy,  and  an  unhealthy  tendency  to  empty  decla 
mation  and  immature  and  unprofitable  legislation ;  so  that 
the  idea  has  already  been  suggested  of  having  these  con 
ventions  only  once  in  ten  years.  Yet  the  free  synodal 
constitution,  with  all  its  evils,  which  flow  from  sinful  flesh, 
and  are  in  fact  incident  to  every  other  form  of  government, 
we  far  prefer  to  a  slavish  dependence  of  the  church  on  the 
temporal  power  and  the  changing  humors  of  individuals ; 
and  we  believe,  that  its  advantages  and  its  happy  influence 
in  awakening  and  promoting  the  general  life  of  the  church 
infinitely  outweigh  its  defects. 

Though  the  party  impulses  in  this  church,  its  exclusive- 
ness,  its  pedantry,  its  high  pretensions,  especially  with  its 


164        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

obvious  deficiency  in  original  contributions  to  theological 
science,  are  much  to  be  lamented;  yet  it  has  also  many 
excellences  and  advantages,  occupies  a  very  important  con 
servative  position  in  American  Christianity,  and  has,  per 
haps,  of  all  Protestant  denominations  the  best  prospects  of 
ultimate  success  in  the  United  States.  There  is  at  present 
a  movement  on  foot,  headed  by  several  worthy  and  even 
high-church  Presbyters,  but  not  favored,  as  it  seems,  by 
the  bishops,  of  increasing  the  efficiency  and  popularity  of 
this  church,  by  allowing  greater  liberty  in  the  use  of 
the  Prayer  Book,  with  the  privilege  of  preferring  even 
free  prayers  in  certain  cases ;  by  providing  a  greater 
variety  of  forms  for  many  occasions  ;  by  relaxing  somewhat 
the  rigor  of  the  Episcopal  succession  theory,  and  entering 
into  a  more  liberal  and  friendly  relation  to  other  evan 
gelical  churches.  In  this  way,,  it  is  thought,  the  Episcopal 
Church,  which  was  heretofore  almost  exclusively  confined 
to  the  higher  classes  of  society,  and  has  rather  discouraged 
the  poor  man  from  joining  it,  would  be  able  to  reach  the 
masses,  and  accomplish  a  much  greater  amount  of  good 
among  the  American  people. 

(e)    THE    METHODISTS. 

In  the  bosom  of  the  Church  just  described  has  arisen, 
since  1*729,  Methodism,  the  third "  great  movement  of 
religious  reform  in  England.  It  forms  almost  as  important 
an  epoch  in  the  development  and  application  of  the  Pro 
testant  principle,  as  the  Puritanic  revolution  in  the  seven- 


THE    METHODISTS.  165 

teenih  century ;  -while  now  on  the  other  hand  Puseyism 
represents  the  counter  movement  of  Anglicanism  towards 
Catholicism,  and  is  therefore  mainly,  though  by  no  means 
wholly,  retrograde.  Methodism,  however,  may  almost  as 
well  be  called  an  American  product,  as  an  English.  Its 
founders,  John  Wesley  and  George  Whitefield,  themselves 
labored  a  long  time  as  clergymen  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Georgia ;  and  the  latter,  who  died  in  New  Eng 
land  (1770),  went  through  all  the  colonies  repeatedly,  as 
a  genuine  evangelist  and  a  powerful  revival  preacher ;  ever 
testifying  against  natural  depravity  with  awful  earnestness, 
as  in  the  immediate  presence  of  heaven  and  hell,  and  warn 
ing  men  to  turn  from  the  gaping  abyss ;  everywhere,  as 
lightning,  striking  the  conscience,  and  kindling  new  divine 
life — an  incalculable  blessing  to  his  whole  age.  In  fact 
Methodism  established  itself  independently  in  America, 
even  before  it  did  in  England,  although  the  first  Methodist 
congregation  was  not  founded  before  1766  in  New  York. 
Confessedly  it  originally  contemplated  no  separation  from 
the  Evangelical  establishment,  but  only  a  revival  of  that 
church.  It  aimed  not  to  make  itself  a  distinct  sect,  but,  at 
most,  like  the  German  Pietism,  an  ecclesiola  in  ecclesia,  and 
especially  to  introduce  practical  religion  among  the  dread 
fully  neglected  lower  classes  of  the  people.  But  when  the 
American  colonies  declared  themselves  independent,  and 
thus  all  connection  was  dissolved  between  the  Episcopal 
Church  and  England,  an  emergency  presented  itself  which 
John  Wesley,  then  already  eighty  years  old,  who  had 
openly  disapproved  the  war  for  liberty,  and  thus  drawn 


166        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

upon  himself  the  sarcastic  censure  of  that  well-known  yet 
unknown  political  writer,  Junius,  thought  could  be  met  only 
by  a  departure  from  the  usual  church  order ;  and  he,  though 
only  a  Presbyter  of  the  Anglican  church,  on  his  own 
responsibility,  in  1784,  ordained  one  of  his  friends  and 
fellow  Presbyters,  Dr.  Coke,  bishop  or  superintendent  of 
his  American  Methodist  Societies,  and  by  this  act  gave 
them  the  character  of  an  independent  religious  body,  which 
has  since  borne  the  name  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  At  the  same  time  he  made  an  abridgment  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  as  a 
directory  for  the  worship  and  doctrine  of  this  new  organi 
zation. 

However  we  may  think  of  this  bold  step,  which  was,  in 
any  case,  an  ecclesiastical  irregularity,  like  Luther's 
ordination  of  Nicolas  of  Anisdorf,  as  bishop  of  Naumburg, 
and  the  ordination  of  Teasel  by  CEcolampadius ;  it  is 
obvious,  that  Methodism  has,  since  then,  grown  with 
uncommon  rapidity,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important 
facts  in  the  modern  history  of  Protestant  Christendom.  It 
has  not  been  entirely  without  influence,  even  on  the 
Anglican  mother  church.  The  active  zeal  of  the  evan 
gelical  or  low-church  party  for  practical  Christianity  and 
missions  is,  at  least  in  part,  an  effect  of  the  Methodistic 
movement.  In  America,  this  has  had,  perhaps,  of  all 
sections  of  the  church,  next  to  Puritanism,  the  greatest 
influence  on  the  general  religious  life,  and  especially,  as 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  on  the  German  churches.  It  must 
be  regarded  as  the  chief  author  and  promoter  of  revivals. 


THE    METHODISTS.  167 

These,  in  this  particular  form,  are  peculiar  to  that  country, 
and  date  from  the  time  of  Whitefield  and  Jonathan 
Edwards.  They  commonly  appear  in  "  camp-meetings," 
and  "  protracted  meetings,''  and  sometimes  spread,  as  by 
contagion,  over  whole  districts.  The  Methodist  is,  at  all 
events,  one  of  the  most  numerous  denominations  in 
America,  perhaps  the  most  numerous,  and  in  the  State  of 
Indiana  it  even  controls  the  political  elections.  It  has 
uncommon  energy  and  activity,  and  enjoys  an  organization 
eminently  fitted  for  great  general  enterprises  and  systema 
tic,  successful  cooperation.  Its  preachers  have,  in  general, 
little  or  no  scientific  culture,  but,  on  an  average,  a  decided 
aptness  for  popular  discourse  and  exhortation,  and  they 
often  compensate  by  fidelity  and  self-denial  for  their  want 
of  deeper  knowledge.  They  are  particularly  fitted  for 
breaking  the  way  in  new  regions,  for  aggressive  missionary 
pioneer  service,  and  for  laboring  among  the  lower  classes 
of  the  people.  Their  zeal,  however,  is  very  frequently 
vitiated  by  impure  motives  of  proselytism,  and  indulges  in 
the  boldest  aggressions  on  other  churches,  thinking  that  it 
alone  can  really  convert.  Amongst  the  negroes,  too, 
both  free  and  slave,  Methodism  has  most  influence,  and 
seems,  with  its  emotional  excitements,  well  adapted  to 
their  sanguine,  excitable  temperament.  Formerly,  appeal 
ing  to  the  apostles  and  evangelists  of  the  primitive  church, 
it  used  to  condemn  learning  and  theology  from  principle, 
as  dangerous  to  practical  piety ;  and  to  boast,  that  its 
preachers  had  "  never  rubbed  their  backs  against  the  walls 
of  a  college,"  and  yet  knew  the  better  how  to  catch  fish  in 


168  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

the  net  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  in  tins  respect,  a 
considerable  change  has  been,  for  some  years,  going  on. 
The  Methodists  are  now  beginning  to  establish  colleges 
and  seminaries,  to  publish  scientific  periodicals,  and  to 
follow  the  steps  of  the  culture  of  the  age.  But  it  is  a 
question  whether  they  will  not  thus  lose  more  in  their 
peculiar  character  and  influence  with  the  masses,  than 
they  will  gain  in  the  more  cultivated  circles. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
has  been  divided  since  1847  into  two  almost  equal  parts, 
a  northern  and  a  southern.  These  have  broken  off  all 
intercommunion,  and  have  recently  had  a  vexatious  law 
suit  about  the  division  of  the  common  property.  The  sole 
cause  of  the  separation  was  slavery.  The  Methodists  of 
the  northern  and  western  States  are  mostly  abolitionists, 
and  would  not  suffer  that  their  brethren  in  the  south 
should  hold,  buy,  and  sell  immortal  men  as  pro 
perty. 

In  it&«haracter,  Methodism  holds  the  same  relation,  both 
in  light  and  shade,  to  English  Christianity,  as  the  Pietism 
of  Spener  and  Francke  to  the  German;  and  it  stands 
towards  the  Episcopal  Church  just  as  this  Pietism  does 
towards  the  Lutheran,  except  that  it  is  organized  as  a  dis 
tinct  sect,  while  Pietism  still  forms  only  a  party  within  the 
Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  churches.  Hence  it  takes 
most  with  the  Wiirtemberg  emigrants,  among  whom  there 
are  so  many  Pietists.  Wesley  himself  had  been  in,  Ger 
many.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  German  church 
hymns,  many  of  which  he  reproduced  in  English  (as  he 


THE    METHODISTS.  169 

afterwards  did  Bengal's  Gnomon  in  his  Commentary  on 
the  New  Testament),  and  was  at  first  in  very  close  inter 
course  with  Zinzendorf  and  the  Moravian  Brethren,  to 
whom  he  owed  much,  though  he  afterwards  separated 
from  them.  "Whitefield  particularly  admired  the  Francke 
Orphan  House,  and  endeavored  to  found  one  like  it  iu 
Georgia. 

Methodism  and  Pietism  have  in  common  an  earnest 
interest  for  subjective  experimental  religion,  repentance, 
conversion,  regeneration ;  and  this  in  a  particular  way  or 
method  (whence  the  name  Methodism).  The  reigning 
spirit  of  the  system  demands  for  a  full  "getting  through," 
violent  birth-throes,  a  powerful  struggle  of  repentance,  a 
definite  sum  of  experiences  of  sin  and  grace,  and  commonly 
also  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  time  and  place  of  regene 
ration  or  conversion ; — for  with  the  Methodists  these  two 
are  the  same.  They  entirely  reject  the  doctrine  of  election, 
and  frequently  preach  from  the  pulpit  against  Calvinism. 
They  are  Arminian,  and  teach,  often  even  to  the  extreme 
of  Pelagianism,  the  freedom  and  accountability  of  the 
human  will,  the  possibility  of  resisting  and  losing  the 
divine  grace,  and  the  possibility  and  relative  necessity  of 
repeated  regenerations.  This,  it  is  well  known,  was  the 
main  reason  of  Wesley's  final  separation  from  Whitefield ; 
the  latter  decidedly  holding  the  doctrine  of  predestination, 
though  in  his  sermons  he  never  made  imprudent  use 
of  it.  In  other  respects  the  confession  of  Methodism  is  a 
simplification  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles ;  and  the  Wesley- 


ItO  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

ans,  in  England  at  least,  have  retained  much  even  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  while  their  brethren  in  America 
are  in  this  matter  also  more  free  and  radical,  and  are 
almost  entirely  addicted  to  extemporaneous  prayer. 

Yet,  after  all,  there  is  a  very  considerable  difference 
between  Methodism  and  Pietism,  founded  in  the  difference 
between  the  English  and  German  national  character. 

Methodism  lacks  throughout  the  German  depth,  and 
inwardness,  the  contemplative  turn  for  the  mystical,  and  a 
vigorous,  fruitful,  and  profound  theology ;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  it  far  surpasses  Pietism  in  energetic  outward 
activity,  going  forth  to  conquest.  They  are  related  in  this 
respect  like  Martha  and  Alary,  Peter  and  John. 

While  Pietism  contents  itself  with  working  as  salt 
within  the  church,  and  in  the  use  of  the  ordinary  means  of 
grace,  Methodism  has  a  complete,  separate,  and  indeed  in 
its  way  admirable  organization.  John  Wesley  was  not 
only  a  pungent  preacher,  but  also  a  legislative  genius,  an 
exceedingly  shrewd,  skillful  business  man ;  while  his 
brother  Charles,  the  sweet  writer  of  spiritual  songs,  was  of 
a  more  inward,  reflective  turn,  and  in  this  respect  supplied 
the  defect  of  the  other.  Had  John  lived  in  the  Middle 
Age,  or  in  the  Roman  church,  he  would  have  been,  with 
out  doubt,  like  Dominicus,  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  Ignatius 
of  Loyola,  the  founder  of  a  great  monastic  order ;  and  had 
the  Anglical  church  rightly  understood  and  appreciated 
him,  and  possessed  the  tact  which  the  Roman  shows  in 
such  cases,  it  would  not  only  not  have  persecuted  Method- 


THE    METHODISTS.  Ill 

ism,  but  would  have  formally  sanctioned  and  patronized  it 
as  a  society  for  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  thus  pre 
vented  a  secession.*" 

The  constitution,  drawn  up  by  John  Wesley,  but  after 
wards  in  many  respects  modified  and  developed,  is  in  prin 
ciple  entirely  hierarchical,  and  is  so  far  in  remarkable  con 
trast  with  the  political  republicanism  of  the  United  States. 
It  has  often  been  remarked,  that  Methodism  is  a  full  Pro 
testant  counterpart  to  the  order  of  Jesuits  in  the  Roman 
Church.  The  legislative  power  resides  in  the  general  con 
ference,  which  consists  of  a  certain  number  of  delegates 
from  the  annual  conferences  of  the  various  districts  ;  the 
executive,  in  bishops  and  presiding  elders.  The  Anglican 
theory  of  apostolic  succession,  however,  of  course  falls 
away ;  for  the  first  Methodist  bishop  was  never  Episcopally 
ordained.  It  is  thus  not  an  Episcopacy  exclusively  of 
principle,  but  of  order  and  expediency,  as  with  the  Mora 
vian  Brethren.  The  congregations  are  entirely  passive, 
and  have  not  even  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  their  minister. 
The  clergymen  themselves  are  in  their  turn  wholly  depen 
dent  on  the  presiding  elders  and  bishops,  and  must  have 
their  stations  changed  by  them  every  two  years;  so  that  a 
continual  rotation  is  established,  and  no  room  given 

*  Says  Macaulay  in  his  brilliant  article  on  Ranke'a  History  of  the  Popes :  "  At 
Rome  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon  would  have  a  place  in  the  Calendar  as  St. 
Belinda,  and  Mrs.  Fry  would  be  foundress  and  first  Superior  of  the  Blessed  Order 
of  the  Tails.  Place  Ignatius  Loyola  at  Oxford.  He  is  certain  to  become  the  head 
of  a  formidable  secession.  Place  John  Wesley  at  Rome.  He  is  certain  to  be 
the  first  General  of  a  new  society  devoted  to  the  interests  and  honor  of  the 
Church." 


112        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

for  a  really  close  union,  a  patriarchal  relation,  between  pas 
tor  and  people.  Hence,  also,  the  clergymen  are  not  sup 
ported  exclusively  by  their  congregations,  but  partly  from 
the  common  Conference  funds,  for  which,  however,  collec 
tions  in  the  congregations  are  required,  and  from  the  pro 
ceeds  of  their  large  Book  Concern  in  New  York.  They 
receive  a  moderate  but  respectable  and  fixed  salary  for 
themselves,  their  wives,  and  each  of  their  children ; 
the  income  rising  with  the  growth  of  the  family.  Then 
the  supernumerary  and  superannuated  clergymen,  and 
missionaries,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased 
ministers,  are  well  provided  for  by  a  large  and  well- 
managed  sustentation  fund  for  the  purpose.  In  addition  to 
this  ministry,  Methodism  has  the  faculty  of  employing  the 
gifted  and  experienced  laity  in  a  sort  of  clerical  activity, 
using  them  very  successfully  as  local  preachers  and  class- 
leaders — a  work,  which  then  commonly  forms,  for  the 
more  talented,  the  stepping  stone  to  the  proper  clerical 
office,  and  a  practical  preparation  for  it. 

The  hierarchical  character  of  the  Methodist  Church  con 
stitution  is,  on  the  one  hand,  its  strength  and  one  main 
cause  of  its  success  and  compactness.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  ever  provoking  reactions  in  the  suppressed  lay 
element,  and  has  already  produced  several  secessions  in 
England  and  America.  The  largest  sect  which  has  gone  out 
from  it  in  (1830),  and  has  exchanged  the  Episcopal  consti 
tution  for  a  tolerably  independent  one,  is  the  Protestant 
Methodist  Church,  commonly  called  Radical  Methodists. 
A  still  more  dangerous  and  probably  incurable  schism  has 


THE    METHODISTS.  173 

appeared  within  the  last  few  years  among  the  "Wesleyans 
in  England,  and  has  thrown  them  into  the  greatest 
excitement. 

In  worship,  Methodism  is  not  satisfied  with  the  usual 
divinely  ordained  means  of  grace.  It  really  little  under 
stands  the  use  of  the  Sacraments,  though  it  adheres  tradi 
tionally  to  infant  baptism,  and  four  times  a  year  celebrates 
the  Lord's  Supper,  as  a  simple  commemoration.  It  has 
far  more  confidence  in  subjective  means  and  exciting 
impressions,  than  in  the  more  quiet  and  unobserved  but 
surer  work  of  the  old  church  system  of  educational  religion. 
The  main  point  with  it  is  always  effect  on  the  sinner 
by  special  efforts  of  the  preacher ;  and  with  this  view  it 
has  invented  and  perfected,  especially  in  America,  a  machi 
nery  for 'the  purpose,  altogether  foreign  to  Pietism — the 
system  of  what  is  called  new  measures.  This  includes 
not  only  prayer-meetings — an  institution  as  old,  by  the 
way,  as  Christianity,  and  only  invested  by  Methodism 
with  a  particular  meaning  and  importance ;  but  also  and 
especially  camp-meetings,  commonly  held  in  forests  or 
under  tents,  often  for  weeks  together  in  a  good  season 
of  the  year ;  protracted  meetings,  which  may  be  held  also 
in  the  church  and  in  the  winter  season,  and  are  designed  to 
compensate  for  the  regularly  returning  church  festivals 
rejected  by  the  Methodists,  as  by  the  Puritans ;  class-meet 
ings,  anxious  or  inquiry  meetings  on  appointed  week  days 
for  the  interchange  of  religious  experience,  and  a  special 
personal  conversation  with  anxious  sinners  (a  kind  of  sub 
stitute  for  the  Roman  Catholic  confessional) ;  and,  finally, 


174        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

the  anxious-bench,  a  genuine  modern  American  invention, 
i.  e.,  a  seat  before  the  pulpit,  to  which  after  sermon  the 
penitent  hearers  are  invited,  and  where  they  are  pressed 
with  special  exhortations,  and  wrought  up  to  the  most 
intense  nervous  excitement,  till  the  new  life  "breaks 
through,"  and  then  the  sense  of  forgiving  grace  often  vents 
itself  in  a  jubilee  of  ecstacy,  as  boisterous  as  the  violent 
lamentations,  groans,  and  not  rarely  convulsions,  in  which 
the  sense  of  sin  had  just  before  found  utterance. 

One  can  conceive  how  many  of  these  "new  measures," 
some  of  which  are,  however,  only  modifications  of  old 
ones,  may,  under  wise  direction,  be  very  powerful  means 
of  awakening  and  promoting  religious  life.  I  well  remem 
ber  what  favorable  representations  I  had  made  to  myself  of 
a  Methodist  camp-meeting  before  my  removal  to  Ame 
rica.  The  idea  of  a  great  assembly  in  the  forest  by  moon 
light,  and  under  heaven's  blue,  starry  dome  of  peace, 
devoutly  listening  to  the  solemn  warnings  and  precious 
promises  of  the  divine  word,  wrestling  with  the  Lord  in 
fervent  prayer,  like  Jacob  at  Jabbok,  till  break  of  day,  and 
filling  the  vast  silence  of  nature,  that  living  temple  of  God, 
with  the  praises  of  the  crucified  and  risen  Friend  of  sinners 
— is  sublime  and  captivating.  And  preaching  in  the  open 
street  and  the  markets,  in  the  large  cities,  where  churches 
are  wanting,  may  be  a  real  duty,  which  the  societies  for 
Inner  Missions  in  Germany  ought  particularly  to  consider. 
Nor  have  I  a  moment's  doubt,  that  in  those  exciting 
Methodist  meetings,  and  even  on  the  anxious-bench,  many 
thorough  conversions,  and  still  more  superficial  but  real 


THE     METHODISTS.  175 

awakenings,  needing  further  care,  have  taken  place.  But 
unfortunately  in  reality  very  much  that  is  human  and 
impure,  mingles  itself  in,  and  these  new  measures  have  led 
to  the  most  injurious  outbreaks  of  religious  fanaticism ; 
above  all  they  have  nourished  a  most  dangerous  distrust 
of  the  ordinary  means  of  grace,  the  calm  preaching  of  the 
Word,  the  sacraments,  and  catechetical  instruction.  The 
Methodists  reject  not  only  confirmation,  as  a  useless  or 
hypocritical  form,  but  also  the  idea  of  objective  baptismal 
grace ;  and  thev  often  dreadfully  neglect  all  religious  train 
ing  of  children,  in  the  vain,  presumptuous  expectation  that 
some  exciting  revival-sermon  in  a  camp-meeting  or  a 
few  hours  on  the  anxious-bench,  will  answer  the  purpose 
of  the  tedious  process  of  parental  discipline  and  care,  and 
regular  pastoral  instruction.  No  wonder  that,  under  such 
influences,  the  young  generation  grows  up  rude  and 
immoral,  and  that  in  many  districts  where  the  quick 
straw  fire  of  Methodistic  revivals  has  burned  brightly,  it 
has  left  a  complete  desolation,  with  frivolous  mockery  of 
all  religion. 

The  new  measures  have  passed  from  Methodism  into 
other  churches,  the  German  among  the  rest,  and  are  there 
very  frequently  still  more  wantonly  abused.  The  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  have,  however,  within  the  last  twelve  years, 
at  least  in  the  eastern  States,  almost  entirely  come  back 
from  these  wild  extravagances,  feeling  that  they  do  not 
correspond  to  the  genius  of  their  church  ;  and  they  have 
returned  to  the  good  old  measures,  which  in  the  end  prove 
better,  than  the  most  artistic  stimulants  of  human  inven- 


176        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

tion.  The  flourishing  period  of  new  measures  is  now,  in 
general,  pretty  much  past,  and  even  among  the  Methodists 
the  swollen  stream  of  religious  excitement  seems  to  be 
again  seeking  its  natural,  fixed  channels,  especially  in  the 
more  cultivated  city  congregations,  which  have  never  really 
approved  those  unwholesome  excesses. 

(f)    THE    GERMAX    CHURCHES.* 

It  is  commonly  estimated,  that  the  Germans  in  the 
United  States,  including  their  English-speaking  descend 
ants,  number  now,  at  least,  four  millions ;  thus  forming 
almost  one-sixth  of  the  whole  population. 

But  the  strength  of  the  German  churches  ought  not  to 
be  estimated  accordingly.  These  Germans  are  scattered 
over  all  the  Union,  especially  the  middle  and  western 
States,  and  divided  into  a  multitude  of  sects.  They  have 
not  naturally  the  practical  talent  for  organization,  and, 
under  the  State-church  system  of  their  fatherland,  did  not 
learn  how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  They  emigrated, 
with  few  exceptions,  not  from  religious,  but  from  secular 
motives.  Perhaps  more  than  half  the  later  emigrants  are 
almost  entire  strangers  to  Christianity.  And  finally,  the 
German  emigrants  have  been  ecclesiastically  left  almost 
entirely  to  themselves  by  the  mother  churches.  These 

*  In  the  original  volume,  which  was  designed  for  Germany,  this  section 
stands  as  a  distinct  third  part,  of  almost  equal  compass  with  the  present  second 
part.  It  is  here  abridged,  to  give  the  work  its  due  proportion  for  the  general 
American  reader. — TRANSLATOR. 


THE     GERMAN     CHURCHES.  171 

things  fully  explain  why  the  German  churches  of  America 
are  yet  in  their  childhood,  compared  with  the  Presbyte 
rian,  the  Congregational,  or  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  at 
least  in  general  culture,  social  influence,  and  church 
activity. 

Nevertheless,  I  am  firmly  convinced,  on  account  of  the 
number  of  pious  and  educated  Germans  and  Anglo-Ger 
mans,  which  is  now  considerable,  and  is  rapidly  growing  ; 
on  account  of  the  late  great  increase  of  life  and  activity 
amono-  them ;  on  account  of  the  decrease  of  transition  to 

C? 

the  English  churches,  and  the  growing  sense  of  their 
peculiar  calling ;  that  the  German  church  and  theology  in 
America  have  a  highly  important  work,  which  they  alone 
can  properly  fulfill. 

The  great  body  of  German  Christianity  in  the  trans- 
Atlantic  world  belongs  to  Protestantism,  and  to  the  Pro 
testant  Germans  we  shall  accordingly  confine  ourselves. 
Perhaps  one-fourth,  at  most  one-third,  of  the  emigrants, 
particularly  from  Bavaria,  Wiirternberg,  Baden,  the  Rhen 
ish  provinces,  and  Austria,  may  be  Roman  Catholics. 
The  German  Protestants,  however,  are ,  like  Protestantism 
itself,  much  divided,  and  represent  almost  all  branches  of 
the  church  in  the  mother  country.  The  great  mass  belong 
to  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  confessions.  Besides  these 
there  are  the  United  Church,  the  Moravian  Brethren,  and 
the  older  sects,  as  the  Mennonites,  Tunkers,  and  Scliwenk- 
feldians ;  with  several  others  of  American  and  mostly 
Methodistic  origin,  the  Albrights  Brethren,  the  United 


ITS       THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

Brethren,  the  German  missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  a  few  Baptist  congregations. 

The  German  emigration  to  America  began  in  the  time 
of  Penn,  about  1680,  and  directed  itself  particularly  to  the 
colony  of  Pennsylvania,  which  is  accordingly,  to  this  day, 
the  principal  theatre  of  the  German-American  churches. 
The  ecclesiastical  organization  did  not  begin  till  towards 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  It  was  mainly  the  work 
of  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  Lutheran  pastor  Miihlenberg,  a 
missionary  of  the  Halle  Orphan  House,  and  the  Reformed 
pastor,  Schlatter,  of  St.  Gallen,  who  was  sent  about  the 
same  time,  by  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  as  a  missionary 
to  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania.  These  three  worthy 
men  may  be  regarded  as  the  patriarchs  of  American  Ger 
man  Protestantism.  Various  causes — the  rise  of  Rational 
ism  in  Germany,  and  wars  in  Europe  and  America,  the 
cessation  of  emigration,  and  of  the  interest  of  the  mother 
church  for  her  distant  children,  want  of  educational  insti 
tutions  and  embarrassing  ignorance  of  the  English  lan 
guage — brought  the  German  church  in  America  to  a 
stand,  and  occasioned  the  transition  of  many  of  its 
children,  especially  of  the  richer  and  more  influential 
families,  to  the  Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  or  Methodist 
bodies;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  its  separation  from 
Germany  saved  it  from  Rationalism,  and  left  it  firm  in  the 
pious  traditions  of  the  fathers.  About  1820,  it  was 
awakened  from  its  lethargy,  first  by  the  influence  of  the 
Anglo-American  churches,  then  by  the  fresh  stream  of 


THE    GERMAN     CHURCHES.  IT  9 

renewed  emigration,  which,  with  much  bad,  brought  also 
much  good  from  the  newly-awakened  Christian  life  of 
Germany.  Under  the  influence  of  Puritanic  Presbyte- 
rianism  and  Methodism,  favored  by  the  irresistible  spread 
of  the  English  language  even  into  purely  German  settle 
ments,  this  newly-aroused  life  at  first  bore,  and  still,  in 
some  measure  bears,  a  predominantly  English  character, 
partly  Puritanic,  partly  Methodistic,  and  was  for  a  while 
in  danger  of  losing  its  peculiarity,  especially  the  churchly 
elements  of  German  Protestantism,  its  liturgy,  festivals, 
catechetical  training,  confirmation,  mystical  view  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  &c.  But  of  late,  since  about  1840,  the 
German  church  has  vigorously  awakened  to  a  sense  of  her 
origin,  history,  and  mission,  and  has  revealed  what  we 
may  term  a  decided  evangelical-catholic  and  Anglo-Ger 
manic  tendency,  occupying  itself  with  some  of  the 
weightiest  religious  problems  of  the  age,  establishing 
theological  and  literary  institutions,  and  beginning  to  exert 
an  influence  even  on  the  Anglo-American  communions. 
Emigration  also  has  very  rapidly  increased  since  the  close 
of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  has  of  late  so  swelled  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  German  governments  and 
American  statesmen,  and  to  involve  one  of  the  most 
important  social  questions  of  the  age.  The  number  of 
German  emigrants  to  the  United  States  at  present  averages 
at  least  150,000  a  year,  and  surpasses  now  that  of  every 
other  nation,  even  the  Irish. 

These  emigrants  by  no  means  at  once  exchange  their 
language  for  the  English  ;    and  the  conflict  of  the  two 


180        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

tongues  is  a  peculiar  phenomenon  and  a  great  practical 
difficulty  in  the  history  of  the  American  German  church. 
That  the  German  language,  unless  constantly  reinforced 
by  emigration,  must  gradually  become  extinct  as  a 
medium  of  popular  intercourse  in  the  United  States,  is 
inevitable ;  not  on  account  of  any  outward  prohibition  of 
its  use ;  but  through  the  irresistible  silent  influence  of  the 
English  tongue,  which  seems  destined  and  better  fitted 
than  any  other,  to  become  the  universal  language  for  the 
Western  Hemisphere  ;  and  through  the  working  of  that 
mysterious  energy,  by  which  all  the  nationalities  of  the 
Old  World  are  fusing  into  a  peculiar  American  national 
character.  In  very  many  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed 
congregations  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia,  Ohio,  and  even  further  out,  the  English  language  is 
now  either  mostly  or  exclusively  used  in  worship ;  and  it 
is  due  to  truth  to  say,  that  these  congregations  are  often 
among  the  most  active  and  zealous  of  their  confessions. 
In  most  cases  the  transition  to  the  English  language  and 
customs  is  at  the  same  time  an  advance  in  cultivation  and 
piety.  In  the  older  counties  of  Pennsylvania  there  has 
existed  for  perhaps  a  century,  a  dialect  formed  by  a 
singular  cross  between  the  Palatinate  German  and  the  Eng 
lish,  which,  though  it  has  passed  from  Pennsylvania  into 
other  States,  may  be  termed,  from  its  origin,  Pennsylvania 
German.  The  foreign  elements  consist  of  unchanged 
English  words,  Germanized  forms  of  English  words  and 
expressions,  and  literally  translated  English  idioms  and 
phrases.  Characteristic  of  the  two  nationalities  is  this 


THE    GERMAN     CHURCHES — THE    LUTHERAN.  181 

yielding  of  the  German  language  to  the  English  ;' while 
in  the  midst  of  German  settlements,  the  English  has 
appropriated  only  two  German  expressions :  souerkrout 
and  smierkiis !  Such  corruption  of  the  German  tongue  is 
commonly  in  America  the  bridge  to  its  extinction. 

But  the  extinction  of  the  German  even  as  a  popular 
language,  must  be  put  at  least  a  hundred  years  in  the 
future,  on  account  of  the  vast  and  still  increasing  emigra 
tion.  And  then  again,  this  language  is,  like  the  Greek 
and  Latin,  probably  destined  to  even  a  distinct  perpetuity 
as  a  learned  language  and  a  means  of  higher  intellectual 
culture,  on  account  of  its  exceedingly  copious  and  valu 
able  literature  in  all  branches  of  science  and  poesy. 

This  contact  of  the  two  languages  is  a  source  of  great 
difficulty  and  constant  collisions  in  the  German  churches, 
often  involving  even  the  passionate  and  bitter  opposition 
of  narrow  Native- Americanism  and  bigoted  Europeanism. 
The  native  Germans  are  often  strenuous  for  even,  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  German  in  worship ;  the  native 
Americans  are  as  strenuous  for  the  English.  The  only 
true  position  here  is  what  we  may  call  the  Anglo-Ger 
manic,  allowing  both  languages  their  due,  and  working 
towards  a  higher  religious  union  of  both  the  nationali 
ties,  which  Providence  has  thrown  together  in  America 
undoubtedly  to  be  thus  united. 

Of  the  several  branches  of  German-American  Protest 
antism,  we  place  first 

(1)  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. — This  is  the  most  nume- 


182  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

rous  and,  in  its  origin  and  history,  the  most  German  of  all. 
Its  organized  existence  in  America  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  previous  century,  when  Dr.  Miihlenberg,  a  mission 
ary  of  the  Halle  Orphan  House,  collected  the  long  present 
but  neglected  material  into  congregations,  and  (A.  D. 
1748)  laid  the  foundation  of  what  was  called  the  United 
Ministry,  and  of  the  still  existing  Pennsylvania  Synod  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  church.  It  drew  its  material 
from  almost  all  the  German  countries,  first  from  the 
Palatinate,  afterwards  mainly  from  Wurtemberg,  Baden, 
Alsace,  Bavaria,  Hannover,  the  Saxon  provinces,  and  from 
Sweden  and  Norway.  Though  a  multitude  of  nominal 
Lutherans  in  America,  as  the  older  emigrants  from  Sweden 
and  Norway,  have  gone  over  to  other  communions,  as  the 
Episcopal  and  Methodist,  yet  this  church  has,  within  the  last 
ten  or  twenty  years,  grown  with  great  rapidity  ;  and  if  its 
internal  condition  and  its  influence  had  corresponded  with 
its  numbers,  it  must  have  already  been  counted  among  the 
leading  denominations  in  America.  It  stretches  over  all 
the  Middle  and  Western  States,  and  some  of  the  Southern. 
According  to  its  latest  statistical  reports,  it  numbers  near 
nine  hundred  ministers,  and  perhaps  thrice  as  many  con 
gregations.  It  has  eight  theological  seminaries,  five 
colleges,  or  at  least  beginnings  of  colleges,  and  nine 
periodicals,  four  in  English  and  five  in  German.  Its  home 
missionary  field  is  larger  than  that  of  any  other  American 
denomination,  and  its  missionary  spirit  and  liberality  is 
growing  every  year. 

The  multifarious  differences  of  opinion  and  schools  in 


THE    GERMAN     CHURCHES — THE    LUTHERAN.  183 

this  body,  representing  almost  all  those  of  the  mother 
church,  besides  specifically  American  tendencies,  make  it 
no  easy  matter  to  describe  the  character  and  internal  con 
dition  of  the  Lutheran  confession.  Leaving  out  of  view 
unimportant  and  local  fractions,  we  may  distinguish  in 
general  three  divisions,  which  we  may  briefly  style  the 
New  Lutheran,  the  Old  Lutheran,  and  the  Moderate 
Lutheran  or  Melancthonian. 

The  New  Lutheran  party  is  an  amalgamation  of  Luther- 
anism  with  American  Puritanic  and  Methodistic  elements. 
It  consists  chiefly  of  native  Americans  of  German  descent, 
and  hence  prides  itself  on  bein^emphatically  the  Ameri 
can  Lutheran  Church.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  numerous, 
at  any  rate  the  most  active,  practical,  and  progressive,  and 
indeed  almost  entirely  English,  not  only  in  its  language, 
but  in  all  its  sympathies  and  antipathies.  It  makes  little 
of  thorough  theological  education,  and  much  of  oratorical 
talent,  practical  activity,  and  business  tact.  To  it  properly 
belong  the  literary  institutions  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  Spring 
field,  O.,  Springfield,  111.;  and  it  has  thus  far  spoken  the 
great  word  in  the  General  Synod. 

The  Old  Lutheran  section  consists  of  a  portion  of  the 
more  recent  emigrants  from  Saxony,  Prussia,  Bavaria,  and 
other  countries.  They  are  still  entirely  German,  having 
not  yet  amalgamated  at  all  with  the  English  and  American 
body ;  though  they  outwardly  prosper  very  well,  if  we  are 
to  judge  from  the  rapid  increase  of  their  ministers  and 
congregations.  Their  pastors  are  mostly  well  instructed, 
faithful,  conscientious,  and  self-denying,  though,  except  in 


184  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

cases  of  liappy  inconsistency,  very  exclusive,  and  narrow- 
minded,  and  unable  or  unwilling  to  appreciate  properly 
other  churches  and  nationalities  than  their  own.  Luther 
is  their  highest  human  authority  ;  and  indeed,  not  the  free, 
bold,  world-shaking  reformer,  but '  the  reactionary,  scrupu 
lous,  intolerant  Luther,  who  at  Marburg  refused  Zuingle's 
hand  of  brotherhood  offered  with  tears.  In  their  congre 
gations  they  maintain  a  certain  discipline  and  order,  and 
are  zealous  for  the  parochial  school.  Over  the  experi 
menting  New  Lutherans  they  have  the  advantage  of  a  fixed 
principle,  a  well-formed  doctrinal  basis,  and  general  logical 
consistency.  They  are,  ffowever,  not  harmonious.  The 
office  question,  which  has  thrown  even  the  strictly  sym 
bolical  Lutherans  of  Germany  into  discord,  in  spite  of  all 
their  boasted  doctrinal  compactness  and  unity,  has  arrayed 
them  against  each  other  in  two  parties,  the  Synod  of  Mis 
souri  and  the  Synod  of  Buffalo,  which  wage  a  newspaper 
war  with  a  bitterness  little  creditable  to  Lutheranism  and 
Christianity,  and  not  at  all  fitted  to  inspire  the  Anglo- 
American,  if  ever  he  hears  of  it,  with  respect  for  this  sec 
tion  of  German  Christendom.  I  refer  to  the  controversy 
between  the  two  views  of  the  clerical  office — one,  the  com 
mon  Protestant  view,  which  makes  the  clerical  office  only 
the  organ  of  the  general  priesthood  ;  the  other,  the  Roman 
izing  doctrine  of  a  separate  clerical  office,  resting  on  ordi 
nation,  and  specifically  different  from  the  general  priesthood 
of  the  baptized. 

The  Moderate  Lutheran  tendency  strikes  a  middle  course 
between   these  two  extremes,  which  are  bound  together 


THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES — THE  LUTHERAN.     185 

only  by  the  accident  of  name.  It  has  the  oldest  American 
Lutheran  tradition  on  its  side  ;  for  the  first  missionaries  came 
mostly  from  the  Halle  Orphan  House  and  the  Pietistic  school 
of  Spener  and  Francke,  which  is  well  known  to  have  been 
never  strictly  symbolical,  but  somewhat  latitudinarian  in 
doctrine.  It  is  represented  by  the  oldest  and  largest  Synod 
— the  Pennsylvania — and  to  some  extent  also  by  the 
United  Synod  of  Ohio.  A  considerable  number  of  minis 
ters  in  these  and  kindred  synods,  especially  of  the  older  men, 
have  indeed  very  indefinite  views,  are  uneducated  and 
mentally  indolent,  and  care  more  for  their  farms  than  for 
theology  and  the  Church,  and  for  the  most  part  blindly 
follow  some  leading  minds.  But  within  a  few  years  past 
a  higher  intellectual  life  and  church  activity  has  sprung  up 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Synod,  which  now  includes  some 
venerable  old  and  promising  young  theologians,  partly 
educated  in  America,  others  transferred  from  Europe. 
The  true  problem  of  this  synod  is  to  mediate,  not  only 
between  the  old  churchly  and  the  Puritanic  Lutheranism, 
but  at  the  same  time  between  European-German,  and 
American  interests ;  and  thus  to  facilitate  a  consolidation 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  This  it  has  only  just 
rightly  begun  to  da,  by  the  recent  passage  of  two  impor 
tant  measures,  viz.:  acts  of  union  with  Gettysburg  (by 
establishing  a  German  professorship  there),  and  with  the 
General  Synod,  from  both  of  which  it  had  hitherto  held  off 
through  strong,  and  in  some  cases  not  unfounded  prejudices 
against  the  un-Lutheran  and  un-German  spirit  reigning  in 
them. 


186        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

The  difference  between  these  three  grand  divisions  of 
American  Lutheranism  is  more  or  less  manifest  in  all 
departments  of  church  life. 

In  the  first  place,  in  doctrine,  and  in  the  posture  of  the 
parties  towards  the  symbolical  books.  The  Old  Lutheran 
Synods  of  Missouri  and  Buffalo,  of  course,  like  the  strict 
Lutherans  in  Germany,  hold  the  whole  Book  of  Concord, 
laying  special  stress  on  the  Formula  Concordias,  as  the 
consistent  logical  continuation  of  the  unaltered  Augustana, 
and  as  precisely  defining  the  pure  Lutheran  doctrine,  both 
against  the  Reformed  and  the  Roman  Catholic  churches. 

£3 

The  Pennsylvania  Synod  contents  itself  with  only  the 
Augsburg  confession  and  the  smaller  catechism  of  Luther. 
With  these  the  Melancthonian  tendency  is  safe  ;  whereas, 
by  the  Form  of  Concord  it  is  repudiated  as  crypto  and 
semi-Calvinistic. 

The  New-Lutherans,  on  the  contrary,  have,  in  reality, 
entirely  given  up  all  the  points  which  distinguished  the 
Lutheran  theology  from  the  Reformed,  substituting  for  the 
Calvinistic  doctrine  of  predestination,  however,  the  still  un- 
Lutheran,  Arminian  theory  of  free  will ;  while  they  not 
only  retain  the  Lutheran  opposition  to  Romanism,  but  run 
it  to  a  Puritanic  excess.  True,  the  General  Synod  and  the 
Gettysburg  Seminary  go  upon  a  certain  acknowledgment 
of  the  Augustana,  but  only  as  to  substance  of  doctrine, 
therefore  with  a  restricting  quatenus,  which  of  course 
leaves  it  to  be  twisted  by  every  one  according  to  his  own 
notions.  The  zealous  theological  leader  of  this  American 
Lutheranism  has  more  particularly  defined  his  own  doctrinal 


THE    GERMAN    CHURCHES — THE     LUTHERAN.  187 

position  and  that  of  his  numerous  disciples  and  brethren, 
stating  as  its  main  features:  (1)  Rejection  of  the  binding 
authority  of  all  Lutheran  symbols  except  the  Augsburg 
Confession ;  (2)  Acknowledgment  of  the  latter  only 
as  an  expression,  "  in  a  manner  substantially  correct,"  of 
the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  which  is  the  only 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  He  then  rejects  as 
unscriptural  the  following  Lutheran  doctrines  and  prac 
tices  :  Exorcism ;  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  guilt ; 
private  or  auricular  confession,  as  taught  in  Luther's  smaller 
catechism  ;  the  lax  view  of  the  Augustana  respecting  the 
Christian  Sabbath ;  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  baptism  in  its 
relation  to  regeneration  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

This  last  point  of  difference  is  the  most  important.  For 
it  was  from  this,  in  fact,  that  the  separation  of  the  two 
evangelical  confessions  began  ;  and  it  was  on  this,  that 
Luther,  during  the  conference  at  Marburg,  and  on  every 
other  occasion,  showed  himself  most  unyielding.  How 
completely  is  the  case  now  reversed  !  When  the  Reformed 
Dr.  Nevin,  in  1846,  vindicated  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of 
a  real  spiritual  presence,  and  a  real  participation  by  faith 
of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  that  is,  the  life-power  of 
his  humanity,  the  editor  of  the  "  Lutheran  Observer " 
attacked  and  ridiculed  this  view  as  Romanizing,  supersti 
tious,  and  senseless.  Dr.  Schmucker  adopts  the  Puritanic, 
essentially  Zuinglian  theory  prevalent  in  America,  and  in 
a  special  article  on  this  subject,  rejects  not  only  the  sub 
stantial,  but  even  the  dynamic  or  virtual  presence  of  the 
human  nature  of  the  Redeemer,  declaring,  that  "  there  is 
no  real  or  actual  presence  of  the  glorified  human  nature  of 


188        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

the  Saviour,  either  substantial  or  influential,  nor  anything 
mysterious  or  supernatural  in  the  Eucharist."  Anywhere 
in  Germany  this  would  not  even  be  called  Zuinglianism, 
rninh  less  Lutheranism,  but  the  purest  Eationalism  of 
common  sense.  Even  Bretschneider  and  Wegscheider 
leave  as  much  as  this  of  that  holy  mystery  of  faith,  that 
centre  of  the  Christian  worship.  But  in  America  the 
lowest  and  coldest  views  of  the  sacraments  and  the  church 
are  not  seldom  joined  with  orthodoxy  on  other  points  and 
much  practical  Christian  zeal.  The  same  is  true  also,  to 
some  extent,  of  the  English  Dissenters,  nay,  even  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians  and  the  Low-church  Episcopalians  ; 
so  also  the  leader  of  the  Low-church  American  Lutheranism, 
though  he  has  translated  Storr's  Dogmatic  into  an  English 
abridgment,  and  has  studied  the  Supranaturalistic  litera 
ture  of  Germany,  is,  in  his  theology,  properly  altogether 
Anglo-American,  partly  after  the  Puritanic  Presbyterian 
stamp,  partly  after  the  Methodistic,  which  appears  in  his 
Pelagianizing  views  of  the  freedom  of  the  will,  and  his 
theory  of  conversion  and  regeneration  ;  but  he  would  feel 
highly  insulted  to  be  classed  with  the  German  Eationalists, 
since  he  holds  the  divinity  of  Christ,  as  well  as  the  Divine 
inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  funda 
mental  articles  of  faith.  He  has  also  endeavored  to  show 
that  almost  all  the  leading  men  of  the  Lutheran. church  of 
America,  had  no  higher  views  of  the  sacraments  than  him 
self,  and  that  even  in  the  old  Pennsylvania  Synod  very 
few  rose  above  the  Zuinglian  theory ;  which  may  certainly, 
till  within  a  few  years,  have  been  the  case. 

Since  about  the  year  1848,  however,  a  remarkable  reac- 


THE    GERMAN     CHURCHES — THE     LUTHERAN.  189 

tion  has  arisen  in  the  bosom  of  this  Anglo- American  New- 
Lutheranisrn,  in  consequence  partly  of  the  growing  study 
of  German  theology,  partly  of  occurrences  in  a  sister 
church.  Many  of  the  Lest  minds  and  the  most  influential 
disciples  and  friends  of  Gettysburg  have  forsaken  their 
former  views.  In  the  first  zeal  of  opposition  to  a  pseudo- 
Lutheranism,  they  even  inclined  to  the  extreme  of  the 
exclusive  Lutheranism  of  the  Form  of  Concord.  But  it  soon 
appeared  that  this  could  never  rightly  take  root  among 
Christians  of  the  English  tongue,  and  in  such  a  country  as 
America.  It  is,  indeed,  the  Reformed  confession  in  its  vari 
ous  branches,* especially  the  Calvinistic,  which  there  forms 
the  central  stream  of  the  Christian  life  ;  and  in  the  face  of 
this  perfectly  palpable,  fact,  a  theory  which  really  lops  off  this 
confession  from  the  tree  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  treats  it 
as  a  complication  of  heresis,  seems  a  most  glaring  injustice, 
if  not  an  absurdity,  and  destroys  itself  without  giving  any 
one  the  trouble  of  refuting  it.  Accordingly,  on  the  pages 
of  the  Quarterly  Evangelical  Review — established  in  1849, 
as  the  organ  of  this  new  orthodox  churchly  party  of  the 
Anglo-Lutherans — we  see,  for  example,  a  vindication  of 
the  symbolical  books  in  the  spirit  of  Sartorius  and  Rudel- 
bach,  followed  by  a  demonstration  of  their  unscriptural 
errors,  and  of  the  entire  impropriety  of  such  clogs  on 
Christian  progress.  This  Quarterly  is  thus  a  faithful  mirror 
of  the  unreconciled  doctrinal  antagonisms  and  the  theologi 
cal  agitation,  which  have  for  the  last  six  or  eight  years 
disturbed  the  English,  and  therefore  most  active  and 
zealous,  section  of  the  Ameiican  Lutheran  Church.  These 


190        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AXD  SECTS. 

controversies  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  lead  in  time  to  fixed 
results,  and,  much  as  disputes  among  brethren  are  in  them 
selves  to  be  regretted,  will  certainly  on  the  whole  prove  to 
be  for  the  best. 

In  respect  to  church  government,  the  Lutheran  denomi 
nation  presents  as  little  unity  as  in  doctrine.  It  is  a  con 
glomerate  of  Synods,  not  united,  and  in  some  cases 
overlapping,  thus  occasioning  an  almost  hopeless  confusion. 
Thus,  for  example,  within  the  territory  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod  there  are  an  East  Pennsylvania  Synod  and  a  West 
Pennsylvania,  divided  on  the  subject  of  new  measures. 
There  are  distant  ministers  in  the  State  df  NQW  York 
belonging  not  to  the  New  York  Synod,  but  to  the  Pennsyl 
vania  ;  and  ministers  in  Pennsylvania  belonging  to  one  of 
the  two  likewise  overlapping  synods  of  Ohio  and  Missouri ; 
and  the  reverse.  This  confusion  results  in  part  from  doc 
trinal  differences,  in  part  from  the  unpractical,  helpless 
character  of  the  Germans,  who  have  never  accomplished 
much  anywhere  in  the  matter  of  church  government, 
being  in  fact  accustomed  to  regard  it  as  of  very  little 
importance.  In  my  opinion,  the  different  Lutheran  Synods 
ought  to  be  entirely  reorganized,  their  territories  clearly 
separated  and  defined,  and  a  union  of  them  established  for 
common  objects.  This,  however,  can  never  be  done,  till 
greater  doctrinal  unity  can  be  secured. 

Such  a  union  was  attempted  in  the  triennial  General 
Synod,  instituted  in  1820.  This  is  now,  especially  since 
ihe  annexation  of  the  most  numerous  Synod — the  Old 
Pennsylvania — more  worthy  of  the  name  than  formerly ; 


THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES — THE  LUTHERAN.     191 

though  perhaps  half  the  Lutheran  Synods  will  still  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it,  partly  from  opposition  to  the  New 
Lutheran  or  properly  un-Lutheran  tendency  which  for 
merly  prevailed  in  it,  but  has  now  already  given  way. 
The  Old  Lutheran  Synod  of  Missouri  will,  of  course,  never 
fall  in, unless  this  General  Synod  should  make  all  the  symbols 
from  the  Augsburg  Confession  to  the  Form  of  Concord, 
the  binding  doctrinal  basis,  which  it  will  never  do.  The 
General  Synod,  however,  assumes  no  legislative  power,  but 
only  advisory.  It  does  not  enter  into  doctrinal  differences  as 
such ;  though  these  involuntarily  intrude  themselves  even 
into  purely  business  discussions.  It  only  aims  at  coopera 
tion  and  greater  efficiency  in  the  causes  of  education  and 
missions. 

The  constitution  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  America  is 
in  some  sense  a  mean  between  synodal  Presbyterianisrn 
and  independent  Congregationalism ;  a  position  which  some 
regard  as  a  great  excellence,  others,  as  half-way  and  unde 
cided.  The  German  consistorial  system,  resting  on  the 
basis  of  a  royal  episcopacy  and  supremacy,  of  course  falls 
to  the  ground  in  a  country  where  church  and  state  are 
separated ;  and  no  one  there  seems  to  lament  it  much  ; 
for  though  large  revenues  cease  with  it,  yet  the  freedom  of 
the  church,  the  freedom  of  all  freedoms,  is  an  estate  so 
precious,  that  for  the  sake  of  it  great  disadvantages  are 
gladly  borne.  A  return  to  the  Episcopal  constitution  is 
out  of  the  question,  in  spite  of  the  contact  with  a  flourish 
ing  Episcopal  church  ;  for  there  are  only  very  few  and 
isolated  sympathies  in  this  direction,  perhaps  among  the 


192        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

Scandinavian  emigrants  and  some  Old  Lutherans.  Even 
the  system  of  superintendences,  to  which  these  latter  lean, 
would  not  rightly  thrive  there ;  and  besides,  this  is  only  a 
defective  substitute  for  the  Episcopal  supervision,  which 
comes  recommended  by  so  old  historical  tradition.  Thus 
there  remains  only  the  Reformed  synodal  and  Presbyterial 
constitution,  which  certainly  best  answers  the  idea  of  an 
independent  Protestant  community,  and  has  been -also 
introduced  into  the  Lutheran  churches  of  the  Rhine  and 
Westphalia. 

But  the  three  leading  features  of  Presbyterianism — the 
regular  introduction  of  the  laity  into  church  government, 
the  legislative  authority  of  synods,  and  strict  discipline — 
are  still  very  imperfectly  formed  in  the  American  Lutheran 
church.  Besides  the  synod  there  is  nothing  but  a  minis- 
terium,  as  it  is  called,  consisting  entirely  of  clergymen ; 
the  synods  have  only  advisory  power ;  the  congregations 
are  in  many  cases  wholly  independent  and  under  no  fixed 
system,  and  in  exclusively  German  churches  all  children 
are  baptized  and  confirmed  \vithout  any  strict  regard  to 
religious  qualifications,  either  in  themselves  or  in  their 
parents.  Thus  there  is  much  room  here  also  for  further 
development  in  American  Lutheranism. 

Finally,  as  to  worship  and  Christian  life.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Old  Lutherans  have  a  more  or  less  complete 
liturgical  altar-service,  even  with  the  crucifixes  and  candles 
burning  in  day-time ;  and  in  all  such  matters  they  cleave 
to  historical  tradition  ;  while  the  New  Lutherans  incline  to 
the  Puritanic  system  of  free  prayer,  the  strict  observance. 


THE    GERMAN    CHURCHES — THE    LUTHERAN.  193 

of  Sunday,  neglect  of  the  church  festivals,  and  of  all  sym 
bolical  rites  and  ceremonies ;  or  they  allow  at  most  only  a 
restricted  use  of  liturgies,  of  which  the)''  have  several,  as 
well  as  a  number  of  German  and  English  hymn-books. 

Then  they  disagree  still  more  in  reference  to  the  means 
of  awakening  and  promoting  religious  life  in  congrega 
tions,  particularly  in  reference  to  the  so-called  "  new  mea 
sures,"  which  we  have  already  described  in  speaking  of  their 
native  confession,  Methodism.  The  New-Lutherans  used 
these,  especially  the  anxious  bench,  from  about  the  year 
1830,  to  the  greatest  extent,  and  not  rarely  with  the  wild 
est  hyper-Methodistic  excess ;  while  not  only  the  strictly 
symbolical  Lutherans,  but  also  the  ministers  and  congrega 
tions  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod,  set  themselves  against 
them  with  the  greatest  decision.  One  might  make  a 
book  on  the  anxious-bench  controversy  in  the  German 
church  of  America  (for  the  Reformed  church  also  was 
deeply  agitated  by  it) ;  though  the  task  would  hardly  be 
a  very  profitable  or  interesting  one.  Very  often,  it  is 
true,  the  opposition  arose  from  religious  indifferentism  and 
lifeless  formalism,  and  went  again  all  living  piety  along  with 
the  Methodistic  excesses.  The  healthy  tendency  here 
took  a  middle  course,  and  insisted  on  the  revival  and  main 
tenance  of  a  solid  churchly  religious  life,  resting  on  sound 
knowledge,  wrought  through  the  old  yet  ever  new  and 
effective  measures  of  the  Word  and  the  sacraments — in 
short,  the  means  of  grace  not  invented  by  men,  but 
appointed  by  God  himself,  and  accompanied  by  his 
blessing.  This  tendency  is  now  constantly  gaining  the 

9 


194  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

upperhand.  The  system  of  new  measures  has  already 
outlived  itself,  and  is  almost  confined  to  the  Western  States. 
The  \vild  straw-fire  has  burned  out;  and  what  good  there 
was  in  this  Methodistic  thunder-storm  and  whirlwind,  has 
remained,  and  been  taken  up  into  a  sound  churchly  life. 

The  Lutheran  Church  has  an  important  calling  in  the 
new  world.  This  it  cannot  fulfill  by  being  unfaithful  to  its 
genius  and  history,  and  casting  away  its  doctrinal  and 
practical  peculiarities  ;  nor  by  thrusting  them  forward  in 
rough  opposition  to  the  Reformed  and  English  communions, 
and  thus  depriving  itself  of  all  influence  on  them  ;  but  by 
faithfully  preserving  its  gifts,  and  at  the  same  time  pro 
ceeding  in  wise  and  cordial  accommodation  to  the  circum 
stances  of  a  new  country  and  people,  and  so  making  itself 
available  and  profitable  both  for  the  emigrants  from  its  old 
home,  and  for  the  whole  development  of  Anglo-American 
Christianity.  Confused  and  unsatisfactory  as  its  condition 
may  appear  in  general  and  in  detail  to  an  outside  observer, 
yet  its  rapid  progress  in  latter  years,  and  its  great  number 
of  excellent,  laborious,  and  self-denying  clergymen,  and 
plain,  virtuous,  and  substantial  laymen,  give  promise  of  a 
fair  future  before  it. 

(2)  THE  GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH. — If  we  take  the 
word  Reformed  in  its  original  sense  in  church-history,  as 
including  all  the  non-Lutheran  Evangelical  Protestants, 
the  Reformed  Church  is  the  prevailing  one  in  America. 
It  exists  there,  however,  not  as  one  organization,  but 
in  various  mutually  independent  bodies,  which  take  their 


THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES — THE  GERMAN  REFORMED.   195 

names  either  from  their  national  origin  (German  Reform 
ed,  Dutch  Reformed),  or  from  their  forms  of  government 
.(Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Congregational).  The  German 
branch  of  this  tree,  which  has  struck  deeper  roots  in  Swit 
zerland,  France,  Holland,  England  and  Scotland,  than  in 
Germany,  was  transplanted  to  America,  and  organized 
there  at  the  same  time  with  Lutheranism  ;  first  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  In  language,  manners,  and  customs,  as  well  as 
in  their  general  course  of  development,  the  two  confessions 
are  so  closely  allied,  that  the  people  and  even  many  of  the 
clergy  in  many  places  have  lost  almost  all  sense  of  differ 
ence.  When  Pennsylvania  farmers  are  asked  about  it, 
they  commonly  answer:  the  Lutherans  pray,  "Vater 
Unser,"  the  Reformed,  "  Unser  Vater."  The  Reformed,  as 
is  the  case  also  in  Germany,  are  not  near  so  numerous  as 
the  Lutherans,  though  in  influence  and  efficiency  they  are 
not  a  whit  behind  them,  and  in  some  cases  even  in 
advance.  The  proper  home  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church  of  America  is  the  Palatinate,  from  which  the 
first  emigrants  proceeded  about  the  time  of  Penn. 
It  receives  accessions  from  the  Rhenish  provinces,  from 
the  different  cantons  of  German  Switzerland,  and 
from  Lippe,  whither  many  worthy  and  earnest  men 
emigrated  some  years  ago,  from  attachment  to  the  Heidel 
berg  catechism  and  aversion  to  a  rationalistic  church 
administration.  Many  of  the  Unionists  also  attach  them 
selves  to  this  church  ;  the  majority,  however,  to  Lutheran 
congregations  or  the  Church  Union  of  the  West.  Its 
main  strength  lies  still  in  Pennsylvania,  and  next  to  this  in 


196        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

Ohio,  where  it  has  made  considerable  progress  within 
a  few  years.  In  Maryland,  also,  and  Virginia,  it  numbers 
several  good  congregations ;  but  lower  south  and  far  west 
it  is  as  yet  a  wTeak  plant,  while  in  the  states  of  .New  Jersey 
and  New  York  it  has  permitted  its  material  to  be  almost 
entirely  absorbed  by  the  Dutch  and  other  denominations. 

It  is  divided  into  two  closely  connected  synods,  an 
Eastern  and  a  Western,  separated  by  the  Alleghany  Moun 
tains  ;  and  each  synod  is  subdivided,  into  a  number  of 
classes  or  district  synods.  Its  constitution  is  the  Presbyte 
rian,  which  answers  its  purpose  very  well ;  but  does  not  so 
stiffly  oppose  itself  to  other  forms  of  government  as  the 
Scottish  jure  divino  Presbyterianism.  It  has  now  over 
three  hundred  ministers,  and  perhaps  a  hundred  thousand 
communicants ;  three  theological  seminaries,  and  as  many 
colleges ;  two  German  and  four  English  popular  and  scien 
tific  periodicals.  Of  late  years  it  has  been  zealously 
working  its  way  up,  has  vigorously  increased  in  the  midst 
of  perpetual  conflicts  and  agitations  from  without  and 
within,  and  has  taken  a  peculiar  theological  position  before 
the  American  public. 

As  to  doctrine,  the  German  Reformed  Church  still 
holds,  and  for  some  years  past  with  increased  veneration 
and  love,  the  Heidelberg  catechism,  the  most  genial,  pro 
found,  and  spiritual  symbol  which  the  history  of  the 
Reformed  Church  has  to  show.  It  dates,  indeed,  as  is 
well  known,  from  the  Pentecostal  age  of  Protestantism, 
but  from  the  later,  maturer  days  of  that  age,  when 
the  leading  phases  of  the  Reformation  could  already 


THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES — THE  GERMAN  REFORMED.   191 

be  seen  and  compared,  and  its  results  systematically 
put  together.  Accordingly  it  combines  warm  reli 
gious  enthusiasm  for  evangelical  truth  with  calmness, 
clearness,  and  command  of  material  ;  and,  as  the 
joint  product  of  a  disciple  and  intimate  friend  of 
Melanchthon  (Zacharias  Ursinus)  and  an  earnest  prac 
tical  follower  of  Calvin  (Caspar  Olevianus),  it  presents 
the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  position  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church  in  its  whole  relation,  both  as  to  agree 
ment  and  difference,  to  Rome,  Wittenberg,  and  Geneva. 
This  position  is  decidedly  evangelical,  and  intermediate 
between  the  German  and  the  non-German,  the  Lutheran 
and  the  rigid  Calvinistic  Protestantism.  In  language, 
nationality,  warmth,  and  depth,  nearly  allied  to  Lutheran- 
ism,  especially  in  its  milder,  conciliatory,  Melanchthonian 
shade,  and  always  inclining  even  towards  union  with  it, 
the  Reformed  Church  varies  from  it,  and  approaches  Cal 
vinism  in  its  conception  of  the  sacraments,  its  predilection 
for  the  synodal  and  Presbyterian  constitution,  for  a  more 
complete  independent  congregational  life,  stricter  church 
discipline,  and  greater  simplicity  in  worship  ;  though 
without  being  in  the  narrower  sense  Calvinistic.  For  the 
harsh  doctrine  of  a  double  predestination  is,  by  the  entire 
silence  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  respecting  a  dccre- 
tum  reprobationis,  thrown  out  of  the  province  of  public 
authoritative  teaching  into  that  of  private  opinion  and 
theological  speculation  ;  and  the  Puritanic  severity  of 
radical  disruption  from  history  have  always  found  but 
very  few  advocates  among  the  Reformed  of  the  German 
tongue. 


198        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

From  this  middle,  or,  if  we  may  so  speak,  central  posi 
tion  between  Wittenberg  and  Geneva,  between  the  Ger 
man  nationality  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Romanic, 
English,  and  Scotch  on  the  other,  the  denomination  of 
which  we  are  speaking  can  the  more  readily  exert  a  theo 
logical  and  religious  influence  in  both  directions  ;  recom 
mending  to  Lutheranism,  to  which  it  is  in  America,  as 
everywhere  else,  bound  by  a  thousand  cords,  the  peculiar 
excellences  of  the  strictly  reformed  churches,  and  to  the 
latter  the  good  gifts  and  treasures  of  the  Lutheran  con 
fession.  And  for  this  work  it  has  in  the  United  States 
the  best  opportunity  ;  for  there  all  these  theological  and 
national  antagonistic  forces  are  brought  into  immediate 
daily  contact  with  each  other,  and  there  the  German 
Reformed  branch  of  the  kingdom  of  God  has  the  freest 
room  for  the  execution  of  its  special  mission. 

This  its  mission,  too,  it  has  come  clearly  to  apprehend. 
After  having  shown  for  a  long  time  too  strong  a  leaning 
to  Anglo-American  Presbyterianism  and  Puritanism,  and 
come  into  danger  of  losing  its  German  character,  and  with 
this  of  course  its  influence  on  the  German  emigration,  it 
has  now  become  aware  of  its  historical  and  theological 
peculiarity,  and  attached  itself  wholly  to  the  development 
of  the  modern  Evangelical  United  Theology  of  Germany, 
which,  being  the  joint  product  of  both  confessions,  no 
longer  allows  so  rigid  a  separation  of  their  respective 
doctrinal  ideas.  Indeed,  the  opposition  of  the  Old  Luthe 
rans  to  the  Union  arises  from  the  presence  of  the 
Reformed  elements  in  it.  This  following  of  the  German 
theology  is  plainly  the  most  natural  course  for  a  German 


THE  GERMAN  CHURCHES THE  GERMAN  REFORMED.   199 

Church,  and  is  found  even  in  Switzerland,  many  of  whose 
sons  study  in  Berlin,  Halle,  Bonn,  and  Tubingen,  and 
whose  professors  are  in  part  from  Prussia  and  Wiirtem- 
berg.  •  Almost  all  the  Reformed  divines  of  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  as  Ebrard,  Hundeshagen,  Heppe,  Lange, 
Hagenbach,  Ilerzog,  Schenkel,  &c.,  are  quite  identified 
with  the  development  of  the  United  Evangelical  theology 
But  in  the  United  States  German  philosophy  and 
theology  come  into  living  contact  with  the  whole  Anglo- 
American  form  of  Christianity,  and  thus  become  essentially 
modified.  While  they  act  upon  the  latter,  they  undergo 
themselves  a  process  of  transformation.  From  the  collision, 
the  mutual  attraction  and  repulsion,  of  these  two  elements 
there  has  arisen,  since  Dr.  Ranch  and  Dr.  Xevin,  the  first 
presidents  of  the  literary  institutions  of  Merccrsburg,  a 
theological  movement,  which,  on  account  of  the  practical 
character  of  the  American  ecclesiastical  system,  under 
favor  of  the  free  synodal  life,  and  in  consequence  of  much 
bitter  and  unjust  opposition  from  other  denominations, 
has  kept  the  whole  German  Reformed  communion,  laity  as 
well  as  clergy,  for  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years,  in  an 
almost  constant  agitation,  the  end  of  which  cannot  yet 
possibly  be  seen.  The  whole  movement  is  not  the  result 
of  any  design  or  calculation,  but  evidently  providential, 
and  hence  will  ultimately  result  in  good.  It  has,  under 
God,  even  already  been  beneficial,  by  consolidating  the 
church,  and  exciting  a  considerable  amount  of  serious 
theological  investigation  and  practical  activity.  As  to 
the  landmarks  of  this  denomination,  they  have  not  been 


200  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECT3. 

removed  in  the  least,  as  is  erroneously  supposed  by 
sonic  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  is  now 
more  faithfully  adhered  to  and  more  generally  used  by  its 
ministers,  than  ever  before.  They  look,  it  is  true,  upon 
the  present  distracted  and  confused  state  of  Protestantism 
as  unsatisfactory  and  transitory  ;  but  they  expect  no  help 
from  a  retrograde  movement  to  Romanism  ;  they  hope  and 
pray  rather  for  a  new  reformation,  which  should  save  all 
the  positive  elements  of  truth  and  piety  in  Protestantism, 
and  unite  them  with  the  excellences  of  Catholicism,. 
They  look  not  backward  to  the  fleshpots  and  chains  of 
Egypt,  but  forward  to  the  unity  and  freedom  of  the  land 
of  promise,  to  which  God  will  surely  lead  all  his  people 
from  the  wilderness  in  his  own  good  time. 

(3.)  THE  GERMAN  EVANGELICAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  THE 
WEST. — This  Union  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  prolongation 
of  the  Evangelical  United  Church  of  Prussia,  and  those 
German  States  which  follow  its  example  in  this  respect. 
It  operates  in  America  as  in  Germany  ;  instead  of  fusing 
the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  confessions  into  one  body, 
as  it  was  designed  to  do,  it  has  thus  far  become  a  third 
church  besides  the  first  two  ;  it  contains,  indeed,  the 
germs  of  a  future  reconciliation,  but  its  proper  work  is 
still  far  from  being  accomplished.  We  do  not  say  this 
in  censure  ;  for  the  greater  and  more  important  a  work 
is  the  more  of  time  and  labor  is  required  to  effect  it. 
Previous  feeble  attempts  at  union  have  failed,  though  the 
two  denominations  there  come  into  so  close  contact ;  and 


THE    EVANGELICAL   ASSOCIATION"    OF   THE    WEST.          201 

now  a  renewed  vigor  of  church  life  has  re-aroused  the 
confessional  opposition,  and  retarded  the  present  effort. 
Yet  favorable  conditions  exist  in  the  two  confessions — 
some  o'utward  ones  peculiar  to  America,  which  encourage 
the  hope  of  a  final  accomplishment  of  the  object  ;  and 
this,  too,  on  a  far  grander  scale  than  the  Prussian, 
Baden,  and  Wtirtemberg  Union  at  first  could  have  con 
templated. 

In  America,  where  almost  all  branches  of  the  Pro 
testant  church,  and,  indeed,  almost  all  forms  of  Chris 
tianity,  are  represented  and  thrown  into  contact,  the  idea 
of  union  necessarily  expands.  In  fact,  the  true  idea  of 
union,  in  the  real  spirit  of  the  modern  German  evangeli 
cal  theology,  covers  the  whole  field  of  evangelical  Pro 
testantism,  and  looks  even  to  the  final  reconciliation  of 
the  all-comprehending  antagonism  of  Protestantism  and 
Catholicism — a  work,  for  which  the  present  Church-Union 
of  Prussia  and  other  German  States  may,  perhaps,  in  the 
hands  of  Providence,  prepare  the  way,  but  which  it  will 
require  a  great  many  other  agencies,  and  even  a 
new  reformation,  for  its  completion,  and  may  never  fully 
appear  before  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  And  to  the 
idea  of  union  in  this  comprehensive  sense,  every  theolo 
gian,  who  has  an  intelligent  and  warm  interest  in  the 
body  of  Christ,  must  be  devoted,  whatever  objections 
may  be  raised  to  the  present  actual  operation  of  the 
movement  in  some  of  the  German  churches. 

The  Evangelical  Association  here  before  us,  though  of 
course  at  present  confined  to  a  much  smaller  and  more 


202        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

modest  sphere,  still  meets  an  actual  want.  It  provides 
a  home  for  numbers  of  late  emigrants,  who  have  been 
born,  baptized  and  confirmed  in  the  United  Evangelical 
Church  of  Germany  ;  especially  in  regions  where  there 
are  no  Lutheran  or  German  Reformed  congregations.  It 
was  instituted  on  the  4th  of  May,  1841,  at  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  by  seven  clergymen  of  the  United  Church  of  Ger 
many,  under  the  style:  "The  German  Evangelical 
Church  Union  of  the  West  (Der  deutsch-evangelische 
Kirchenverein  des  Westens)  f  and  now  numbers  some 
thirty  ministers.  According  to  the  first  paragraph  of  its 
revised  statutes,  "  the  object  of  the  Association  is,  to 
work  for  the  establishment  and  spread  of  the  Evangelical 
Church  iu  particular,  as  well  as  for  the  furtherance  of  all 
institutions  for  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
By  the  Evangelical  Church  we  understand  that  com 
munion  which  takes  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
Kew  Testaments  as  the  Word  of  God  and  our  only  infalli 
ble  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  commits  itself  to  that 
exposition  of  the  Scriptures  laid  down  in  the  symbolical 
books  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches,  chiefly 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  Luther's  Catechism,  and  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  so  far  as  these  agree  ;  and  where 
they  differ,  we  hold  alone  to  the  relevant  passages  of 
Scripture,  and  avail  ourselves  of  that  freedom  of  con 
science  which  prevails  on  such  points  in  the  Evangelical 
Church." 

With  many  difficulties  to  encounter,  and  perhaps  many 
modifications  to  undergo,  this  institution  still  has,  in  the 


SMALLER    DENOMINATIONS    AXD    SECTS.  203 

character  of  its  members,  in  the  matter  of  its  documents, 
and  in  attainments  already  made,  the  pledge  of  continu 
ance  and  the  warrant  of  the  best  hopes  for  its  future.  It 
was  primarily  intended  only  for  the  more  Western  States. 
Yet  there  is  in  Ohio  a  like  association  in  connection  with 
this  ;  and  in  the  large  Atlantic  cities  there  would  be  Ger 
man  material  enough  for  Evangelical  congregations.  Should 
it  succeed  even  there  in  keeping  pace  with  the  times,  it 
must  place  itself  the  more  as  a  connecting  link  between 
the  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  Churches,  reach 
towards  both  the  hand  of  love  and  peace,  and  thus  draw 
them  gradually  nearer  together,  and  by  contributing  its 
share  to  their  final  reconciliation  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
accomplish  the  proper  object  of  the  Union. 

(4)  SMALLER  GERMAN  DENOMINATIONS  AND  SECTS. — 
Among  these,  very  honorable  mention  is  due  to  the  Mora 
vian  "  Brethren,"  a  society  of  whom  was  founded  in  America 
as  early  as  the  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  Churches, 
by  the  distinguished  Count  Zinzendorf  and  Spangeuberg 
themselves.  The  Herrnhuters  are  still  a  very  small  com 
munity,  with  little  or  no  prospect  of  growth  ;  yet  they 
exert  a  wholesome  influence  in  their  way,  like  the  silence 
of  the  country,  against  the  prevailing  busy  devotion  to  the 
practical  and  material ;  especially  through  their  well-known 
male  and  female  schools  at  Bethlehem,  Xazareth,  and 
Lititz  in  Pennsylvania^  and  Salem,  N.C.,  which  are  sought 
by  some  from  a  considerable  distance.  They  have  kept 
the  German  language  and  customs  more  pure  than  any 


204  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AND   SECTS. 

other  class  of  emigrants,  and  are  distinguished  in  America, 
as  elsewhere,  for  a  contemplative  turn,  missionary  zeal, 
freedom  from  bigotry  and  exclusiveness,  warm-hearted 
quietness,  fine  manners,  love  of  music,  order,  cleanliness? 
and  chaste  ornament.  After  haying  been  sunk  for  some 
time  into  a  pretty  stagnant  condition,  they  seem  to  have 
latterly  awakened  somewhat  to  new  life,  and  it  is  much  to 
be  desired  that  this  most  amiable,  harmless,  and  peaceful 
of  all  Protestant  sects  should,  with  the  warmth  of  its  first 
Jove,  still  make  itself  long  felt  in  America. 

Other  older  sects,  transplanted  from  Europe  in  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century,  the  Mennonites,  Tunkers,  and 
Schweukfeldians,  are  particularly  numerous  in  Lancaster 
Co.,  Pa.  They  consist  chiefly  of  farmers,  of  good  name  as 
industrious,  quiet,  harmless  citizens.  But  as  communions 
they  have  no  influence,  being  either  distracted  by  sub 
division,  or  petrified. 

The  influence  of  Methodism  on  the  Lutheran  and  Ger 
man  Reformed  Church  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  begin- 
ing  of  the  present  century,  produced  several  new  sects,  in 
doctrine,  discipline,  government,  and  worship  entirely  con 
formed  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  model.  Such  are  the 
United  Brethren  in  Christ,  founded  about  1800,  by 
William  Otterbein,  a  pious  Reformed  Minister  from  Ger 
many  ;  the  Evangelical  Communion  (Evangelische  Gemein- 
schaft),  commonly  called  the  Albrecht  Brethren,  founded 
somewhat  later  by  Jacob  Albrecht^a  Lutheran  layman  of 
Pennsylvania  ;  the  German  Methodists,  regularly  con 
nected  with  the  northern  section  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 


THE    BAPTISTS.  205 

pal  Church,  and  forming  its  most  promising  home  mis 
sionary  field  ;  and  the  Weinbrennerians,  or  as  they  ridicu 
lously  presume  to  style  themselves,  the  "  Church  of  God," 
founded  in  October,  1830,  in  the  town  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.? 
by  John  Weinbrenner,  an  excommunicated  German  Re 
formed  Minister.  They  combine  the  new  measures  and 
revivalism  of  the  Methodists  with  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Baptists,  and  practise  feet  washing  as  a  sacrament  on  the 
ground  of  John  xiii.  Besides  these  there  are  some  few 
Baptist  congregations  unconnected  with  the  older  Men- 
nonites  and  Tunkers,  and  chiefly  of  American  origin. 

All  these  sects  are  a  reproach  and  humiliation  to  the 
Lutheran  Reformed,  and  United  churches  ;  but  should  at 
the  same  time  stimulate  them  to  persevering  self-purifica 
tion,  to  greater  activity,  and  more  faithful  discharge  of  duty, 
and  thus  become  a  blessing  to  them,  as  the  dissenters  to 
the  Anglican  church,  as  Protestantism  to  Catholicism. 
The  more  life  and  zeal  there  are  in  the  church,  the  less 
warrant  is  there  for  sects,  and  the  less  progress  can 
they  make.  But  so  long  as  the  church  neglects  its 
duty,  sects  are  necessary  and  beneficial,  as  taskmasters 
and  troublers. 

(g)    THE    BAPTISTS. 

It  is  often  asserted,  that  the  Baptists  are  the  most 
numerous  sect  in  the  United  States.  But  in  this  case 
the  term  must  at  any  rate  be  taken  in  its  widest  sense,  as 
including  all  parties  which  agree  in  rejecting  infant  bap 
tism,  though  they  have  no  other  connection  with  each 


206        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

other.  There  would  then  come  in  the  Calvinistic  and 
Arminian  Baptists,  who  are  of  English  and  Anglo-Ameri 
can  origin  ;  the  free  communion  and  close  communion  Bap 
tists  ;  the  Mennonites  and  Tunkers,  who  emigrated  from 
Germany  and  settled  mostly  in  Pennsylvania  ;  the  River 
Brethren,  a  section  of  the  Tunkers  ;  the  Seventh  Day 
Baptists,  English  and  German,  who  follow  the  letter  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  keep  holy  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week  instead  of  the  first,  and  have  on  this  account  lately, 
but  unsuccessfully,  petitioned  the  legislature  of  Pennsyl 
vania  for  a  modification  of  the  Sabbath  laws  in  their 
favor  ;  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  commonly  called  Cainpbell- 
ites  (from  their  still  living  founder,  Alexander  Campbell, 
originally  a  scotch  Presbyterian),  who  identify  baptism, 
that  is  immersion,  with  regeneration  itself,  reject  all  creeds 
and  sectarian  names,  although  they  added  to  the  catalogue 
of  sects  a  new  one,  and  have  within  a  short  time  greatly 
increased  ;  the  "  Christians,"  who  boast  of  having  no 
founder,  and  having  sprung  up  as  by  magic,  about  1803, 
in  three  different  localities  at  once,  New  England,  Ohio, 
and  Kentucky,  in  opposition  to  the  bondage  of  creeds  and 
sectarian  distinctions,  reject  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy  Tri 
nity  and  the  divinity  of  Christ,  as  unscriptural,  and  baptize 
only  adults,  by  immersion.  There  is  even  a  Baptist  party 
in  the  Southern  States,  called  the  Hard-Shell  Baptists, 
because,  I  think,  they  oppose  missionary,  tract,  and  tem 
perance  societies,  and  similar  movements,  as  unscriptural 
inventions. 

Of  course  I  cannot  here  go  into  an  account  of  all  these 


THE    BAPTISTS.  207 

subdivisions  of  the  Baptists  ;  but  will  confine  myself  to  the 
most  commanding  body  of  them,  to  which  the  term  Bap 
tist  is  in  America  generally  meant  to  apply.  1  mean 
the  R&gular,  or  Calvinistic  Baptists,  as  they  arc  com 
monly  styled,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Free-will  Bap 
tists,  who  hold  Arminian  or  Pelagian  views  on  the 
relation  of  the  human  will  to  the  divine  in  conversion  and 
sanctification,  and  date  in  America  from  1780,  when  the 
first  congregation  was  formed  in  Xew  Hampshire. 

The  Calvinistic  Baptists  have  not  the  slightest  histori 
cal  connection  with  those  fanatics  of  the  days  of  the 
Reformation,  whose  excesses  in  the  Peasant  War  and 
the  transactions  at  Munster  are  so  notorious.  They 
originated  in  the  times  of  those  violent  Puritanic 
commotions,  which,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  disturbed 
the  whole  ecclesiastical  and  religious  life  of  England. 
They  are  really  not  distinguished  from  the  Independents, 
except  by  their  theory  of  baptism.  In  America  they 
arose  simultaneously  from  the  Puritanic  colonies,  the  first 
Baptist  church  having  been  founded  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  by  Roger  Williams  in  1G39  ;  they  were  first 
much  persecuted,  fined,  whipped,  and  imprisoned,  espe 
cially  in  Massachusetts  and  Yirginia  ;  but  grew  with  great 
rapidity  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  are  now  more 
numerous  in  America  than  in  England.  In  their  history 
shine  such  names  as  those  of  Banyan,  the  author  of  the 
world-renowned  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  one  of  the  best 
books  of  edification  ever  produced  ;  Roger  Williams,  an 
exile  from  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  founder  of  the 


208  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  one  of  the  first  advocates  of 
the  principle  of  universal  religious  toleration  ;  and  more 
recently,  Robert  Hall,  one  of  the  greatest  pulpit  orators 
of  England.  They  are  perhaps  most  largely  and  worthily 
represented  in  New  England  and  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  have  latterly  made  great  exertions  for  the  spread  of 
the  Bible,  and  in  the  work  of  heathen  missions.  They 
have  also  lately  established  several  colleges  and  semina 
ries,  and  taken  a  commendable  interest  in  the  cause  of 
liberal  education.  Many  of  their  most  prominent  divines, 
as  Sears,  Hackett,  Conant,  are  acquainted  with  German 
literature  ;  and  one  of  their  literary  institutions,  the  uni 
versity  of  Rochester,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  some 
years  ago  purchased  the  whole  library  of  the  late  Dr. 
"Neander,  whom  the  Baptists  particularly  venerate  and 
love  for  his  latitudinarian  views  on  infant  baptism. 

In  regard  to  doctrine,  government,  and  worship,  the 
Calvinistic  Baptists  really  agree  in  all  essential  points 
with  the  orthodox  Congregationalists  ;  and  what  we  have 
already  said  of  these,  both  in  praise  and  in  censure,  is 
true  of  the  denomination  now  before  us.  We  need  only 
mention,  therefore,  the  points  of  distinction  which  make 
them  Baptists  in  the  specific  sense. 

The  first  relates  to  the  proper  subjects  of  baptism,  and 
consists  in  the  rejection  of  infant  baptism.  This  they  con 
sider  an  innovation  which  crept  into  the  church  in  the 
third  century,  which  is  contrary  to  the  teaching  and  prac 
tice  of  the  apostles,  and  which  should  have  been  discarded 
by  the  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  with  all 


THE    BAPTISTS.  209 

other  papal  traditions.  Baptism,  in  their  view,  neces 
sarily  presumes  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  sub 
ject,  and  repentance  and  faith  within  him.  But  both 
these  are  impossible  in  unconscious  infancy  ;  hence  bap 
tism  is  here  unmeaning;,  nay  a  very  profanation,  and  a 
violation  both  of  the  rights  ot  God,  who  calls  every  man 
when  he  will,  and  of  the  rights;  of  man,  who  ought  to 
move  of  his  own  free  will  towards  God.  They  certainly 
have  against  them  the  typical  relation  of  circumcision  to 
baptism  ;  the  passages  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
which  record  the  baptism  of  whole  families  ;  the  practice 
of  the  ancient  church  ;  and  many  theological  and  philo 
sophical  arguments  drawn  from  the  organic  unity  of  the 
Christian  family,  the  constitutional  adaptation  of  Christ 
to  be  the  Redeemer  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  the  extent 
of  his  covenant  of  grace,  the  susceptibility  of  the  child 
to  the  regenerating  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  &c. 

But  in  the  first  place,  the  Baptists  have  a  strong  hold 
on  the  lamentable  fact,  that  infant  baptism  is  so  very 
often  profaned,  and  particularly  in  state  churches,  is 
administered  even  where  the  parents  and  sponsors  are 
either  downright  infidels,  or  at  best  altogether  spiritually 
dead  and  indifferent,  and  where  consequently  there  is  no 
foundation  of  religious  family  life,  and  no  guarantee  of  a 
parental  discipline  answering  to  the  baptismal  vo\v,  and 
fitted  to  unfold  and  mature  the  covenant  grace.  Xo 
wonder,  then,  that  there  are  innumerable  baptized  per 
sons  who  are  worse  than  unbaptised  heathens,  and  in 
whom  the  blessing  of  the  sacrament  has  turned  into  a 


210  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

curse.  The  practice  of  the  Baptists,  however,  by  no 
means  secures  them  against  such  profanation.  For  they 
are  no  more  infallible  than  other  Christian  communions  ; 
they  must  baptize  many  hypocrites  and  unworthy  per 
sons  ;  and  their  effort  to  attain  absolute  actual  purity 
in  the  church  on  earth,  and  fully  separate  the  tares  from 
the  wheat  before  the  judgment — an  effort  in  itself 
entirely  praiseworthy — must  prove  as  unsuccessful  as 
that  of  the  Donatists  and  other  sects  of  ancient  and 
modern  times. 

Then  again  the  Baptists  in  America  have  the  advan 
tage  over  most  modern  Puritanic  and  Presbyterian  divines 
at  least  on  the  score  of  logical  consistency.  For  the  lat 
ter  either  directly  deny  the  idea  of  objective  baptismal 
grace,  or  at  least  so  weaken  it,  that  in  the  absence  of  sub 
jective  faith,  on  which  they  make  the  whole  efficacy  of  the 
sacrament  depend,  infant  baptism  becomes  pretty  much 
an  empty  ceremony,  being  at  most  a  solemn  assump 
tion  of  the  obligation  of  Christian  training  on  the  part  of 
the  parents.  If  infant  baptism  be  not  at  the  same  time 
the  beginning  of  the  gracious  operation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  the  child,  and  the  positive  seal  of  a  covenant  of 
grace,  it  were  better  to  drop  it  entirely.  Meantime,  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  the  Baptists  have  any  higher 
conception  of  baptism,  and  of  the  sacraments  in  general, 
than  the  Puritans.  The  common  idea  with  them  is,  that 
baptism  is  only  the  authentic  legitimation,  the  seal  of 
regeneration  and  conversion,  and  therefore  really  imparts 
nothing  new,  but  only  confirms  what  is  already  present. 


THE     BAPTISTS.  211 

The  idea  of  a  proper  objective  baptismal  grace  and  of  a 
real  regenerative  efficacy  of  this  sacrament,  they  reject 
as  mysticism  or  popery.  Their  theology  generally  is,  if 
possible,  still  more  unchurchly  and  anti-catholic,  than 
that  of  the  Puritans. 

The  second  peculiarity,  which  distinguishes  the  Bap 
tists  from  the  other  Protestant  churches,  as  well  as  from 
the  Roman  Catholic,  regards  the  form  of  baptism  ;  which 
they  make  immersion,  in  opposition  to  sprinkling.  This 
rite  they  administer,  winter  and  summer,  either  in  bap 
tisteries  constructed  for  the  purpose,  or  in  streams  and 
lakes.  On  this  point  they  have  a  far  greater  advantage 
from  exegesis  and  church  antiquity,  than  in  the  rejection 
of  infant  baptism,  which  must  at  all  events  have  been 
very  generally  introduced  as  early  as  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century,  as  appears  from  Tertullian's  isolated 
opposition  against  it,  and  from  the  somewhat  later  testi 
mony  of  Cyprian  and  Origen  in  its  favor.  For  immer 
sion,  the  Baptists  appeal  to  the  original  and  almost  uni 
form  meaning  of  the  Greek  word  panTi&tv  •  to  all  those 
passages  of  the  New  Testament,  where  total  or  partial 
immersion  is  unquestionably  implied  in  the  act  of  baptism ; 
to  the  general  practice  of  the  ancient  church,  which  has 
continued  to  this  day  in  the  Eastern  churches  ;  and  to 
the  symbolical  appropriateness  of  this  mode  of  baptism, 
— this  alono  answering  the  idea  of  burial  with  Christ  and 
resurrection  with  him,  and  an  entire  washing  from  guilt  ; 
while  sprinkling  effaces  this  idea. 

The  Baptists,  however,  are  not  content  with  only  giv- 


212  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

ing  the  preference  to  immersion,  and  regarding  sprinkling 
also  as  a  valid  though  less  expressive  form.  They  would 
make  the  latter  entirely  unscriptural  and  void,  and  accord 
ingly  require  converts  from  other  denominations  to  be 
re-baptized  ;  as  if  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
depended  on  the  quantity  of  water  and  the  outward  form. 
A  part  of  the  Baptists  have  for  some  years  been  prose 
cuting  with  great  energy  and  considerable  expense,  a  revi 
sion  of  the  English  version  of  the  Bible  ;  in  which,  among 
many  other  improvements,  the  words  baptize  and  baptism 
(which,  by  the  way,  are  formed  from  the  Greek  original 
itself,  and  properly  mean  submerge),  are  to  be  exchanged 
for  the  unequivocal  immerse  and  immersion. 

It  is  no  more  than  consistent  with  this  narrow,  exclu 
sive  view  of  the  mode  of  baptism  and  of  infant  baptism, 
that  the  close-communion  Baptists,  as  they  are  called, 
debar  Christians  of  other  denominations  from  their  cele 
bration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  as  lacking  the  necessary 
pre-requisite  for  a  place  at  the  Lord's  table,  viz.,  baptism, 
in  the  above  sense  of  immersion.  Besides  these,  however, 
there  is  a  more  liberal  party,  which  regards  the  doctrine 
of  infant  baptism  and  the  admission  of  the  right  of  sprink 
ling  as  no  obstacle  to  real  communion  in  faith  and  in  the 
Supper.  Hence  these  are  called  open-communion  Bap 
tists.  The  most  distinguished  Baptists  of  England,  both 
of  former  and  later  times,  Banyan,  Robert  Hall,  Forster, 
and  Baptist  Noel,  advocate  open  communion  ;  while  in 
America,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  stricter  and  logically  more 
consistent  theory  prevails,  at  least  among  the  ministers. 


THE  QUAKERS.  213 

(ll)  THE  QUAKERS. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  as  they  call  themselves,  or  the 
Quakers,  as  they  are  commonly  called  by  others,  likewise 
dates  from  that  most  remarkable  period  of  deep  religious 
motions  in  England,  the  first  half  and  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  was  founded  by  George  Fox, 
who,  from  a  shoemaker  and  a  shepherd,  rose  by  inward 
experiences  and  visions  to  a  reformer  and  a  prophet,  and 
plays  a  similar  part  in  the  history  of  religious  sects  with 
the  well-known  Gorlitz  shoemaker  and  theosophus  Teutoni- 
cus  in  the  history  of  philosophy.  One  of  his  first  and 
most  distinguished  followers  was  William  Perm.  He  was 
born,  indeed,  in  England,  and  educated  in  Oxford,  and 
also  ended  his  life  in  his  native  land,  in  1117  ;  but  he 
belongs  as  much,  if  not  more,  to  the  history  of  America, 
and  became  there  the  father  of  a  great  and  powerful 
state,  which  justly  bears  his  name.  He  purchased  from 
the  English  crown,  which  owed  his  father  a  considerable 
sum,  the  land  on  the  Delaware  river,  and  founded,  in 
1680,  under  English  jurisdiction,  the  colony  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  the  city  of  "brotherly  love,"  Philadelphia, 
which  has  since  attained  a  population  of  half  a  million. 
He  designed  this  colony  originally  as  an  asylum  for  his 
brethren  in  faith,  who  were  at  that  time  still  bitterly  per 
secuted  in  England,  till  by  James  II.,  in  168G,  they  were 
allowed  the  rights  of  dissenters.  But  from  the  beginning 
•  he  granted  all  other  Christian  confessions  free  access  and 
equal  rights,  and  made  treaties  of  peace  also  with  the  wild 


214-  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

Indians,  who  always  received  the  most  humane  treatment 
in  this  Quaker  colony. 

The  religious  peculiarity  of  the  Quakers,  you  are 
aware,  is  a  sort  of  mysticism  ;  the  only  one  which  has 
proceeded  from  the  bosom  of  English  Protestantism — a 
mysticism,  which  derives  all  Christianity  and  moral  life 
from  the  principle  of  the  "inward  light,"  as  a  divine 
communication  to  every  man,  and  repudiates  all  outward 
forms.  The  Quakers  carry  their  spiritualism  even  to  the 
rejection  of  the  ministerial  office  and  of  the  sacraments  ; 
so  that  an  attempt  to  define  their  relation  to  the  visible 
Church  of  Christ,  in  the  proper  and  strict  sense,  brings 
us  into  a  strait ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Word  and 
sacraments  are  essential  marks  of  the  church  (especially 
according  to  the  definition  of  the  Augsburg  confession), 
and  on  the  other,  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  Quakers 
bring  forth  the  moral  fruits  of  Christianity,  and  are  at 
all  events  enlightened  and  warmed  by  Christian  ideas. 
They  reject  the  sacraments,  indeed,  only  as  outward  acts 
and  rites,  and  would  hold  fast,  and  indeed  lay  ail  the 
more  stress  on  the  idea  of  a  baptism  of  the  spirit,  and  of 
a  purely  inward  communion  with  Christ.  But  this  leaves 
no  sacrament  at  all  ;  for  the  essence  of  a  sacrament  con 
sists  in  the  mystical  union  of  invisible  grace  with  a  visi 
ble  sign.  They  keep,  indeed,  the  written  word  of  God  ; 
but  they  in  reality  put  the  inward  light  above  it.  They 
have  no  separate  clerical  office.  They  exalt  to  the  place 
of  this  the  universal  spiritual  priesthood  and  prophetic 
gift,  disregarding  even  the  difference  of  sex.  I  myself 


THE     QUAKERS.  215 

once  attended  a  great  yearly  festival  of  the  Quakers  in 
London,  where  eight  women  and  only  one  man  were 
moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  addressed  prayers  to 
God  and  exhortations  to  the  assembly  in  that  peculiarly 
tremulous  prophetic  tone,  from  which  they  are  supposed 
to  have  received  the  name  of  Quakers,  or  tremblers. 
Often,  however,  after  sitting  together  for  two  hours,  they 
separate  without  a  sound  having  been  uttered.  For  no 
one  is  to  preach  or  pray,  unless  inspired  at  the  moment 
by  the  Spirit.  This  one-sided  spiritualism  of  the  Quakers 
remarkably  avenges  itself,  we  may  add,  by  passing  into  a 
pedantic  formalism,  which  adheres  most  scrupulously  to 
the  most  trivial  forms,  such  as  a  particular  color  and  cut 
of  the  coat,  hat,  and  bonnet.  Their  fairest  traits  are 
their  simplicity,  general  philanthropy,  and  sympathy  for 
all  the  persecuted  and  oppressed.  That  this  is  not  simply 
a  natural  feeling  with  them,  but  the  effect  of  divine  grace, 
a  spark  of  the  infinite  love  of  the  Saviour,  and  their  pecu 
liar  mission  in  the  household  of  Christendom,  no  one  can 
deny  who  has  carefully  read  the  life  of  Elizabeth  Fry 
(who,  if  she  had  been  a  Roman  Catholic,  would  have 
been  canonized  as  the  foundress  of  the  "Blessed  Order 
of  Sisters  of  the  Tails"),  and  the  memoirs  of  her 
brother,  Joseph  John  Gurney,  recently  published  by 
Braithwaite. 

This  original  sect  has  never  become  very  numerous 
either  in  America  or  in  England.  It  has  no  spirit  of 
proselytism  ;  and  the  fanaticism  which  characterized  the 
first  stage  of  its  history,  it  'long  ago  abandoned.  But 


216        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

through  the  thoroughly  democratic  character  of  its  con 
stitution,  its  spirit  of  toleration,  and  its  rigid  separation 
of  religion  from  politics,  it  has  exerted  a  greater  influ 
ence  on  American  affairs,  than  many  a  larger  denomina 
tion  ;  though  Bancroft  exaggerates  its  effect  by  his 
idealizing  rhetorical  exhibition  of  its  principles.  It  is 
still  a  respectable  religious  party,  especially  in  Philadel 
phia  and  the  immediate  vicinity,  where  it  has  its  largest 
meeting-houses.  There  the  Quakers  may  often  be  seen 
on  the  street,  in  their  peculiar,  but  uncommonly  clean  and 
neat  dress,  with  fresh,  fair  countenances,  and  the  evident 
marks  of  inward  content  and  outward  prosperity.  They 
are  mostly  merchants,  or  farmers,  or  men  of  fortune  and 
leisure.  They  take  an  active  part  in  the  philanthropic 
movements,  and  have  done  real  service  in  the  reform  of 
prison  discipline.  The  so-called  Pennsylvania  system  of 
solitary  confinement  to  favor  earnest  reflection,  and  so 
promote  the  improvement  of  the  prisoners,  is  to  be 
traced  chiefly  to  the  influence  of  the  Quakers.  They 
still  oppose  the  oath  and  war — though  there  was  during 
the  American  Revolution  a  patriotic  party,  called  the 
"Fighting  Quakers" — and  seek  to  spread  the  principles 
of  peace  by  special  societies  and  publications.  They  are 
likewise  decided  enemies  of  slavery,  and  are  generally 
ultra  abolitionists. 

Their  views  are  altogether  in  favor  of  universal  freedom 
and  equality  of  religious  toleration.  But  this  sect  has  an 
unfavorable  influence  in  spreading  amongst  the  people  the 
dangerous  opinion,  that  the  'ministry  and  the  sacraments 


THE    QUAKERS.  217 

are  really  altogether  unessential,  and  that  a  man  may  be 
a  good  Christian,  without  attaching  himself  to  any 
particular  branch  of  the  visible  Church.  In  the  self- 
sufficiency  of  the  inward  light,  they  think  they  may  dis 
pense  with  science  and  theology,  as  an  unprofitable  work 
of  man.  Their  education  is  merely  of  a  general  kind. 
The  only  theologian  they  can  show  is  Barclay,  and  he 
was  a  theologian  before  he  joined  them.  They  live  pretty 
much  by  themselves,  and  they  may  perhaps  be  the  chief 
cause  of  the  comparative  unsociableness  of  Philadelphia. 

Beyond  Eastern  Pennsylvania  they  have  few  congrega 
tions.  In  New  England  they  were  even  from  the  first, 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  bitterly  per 
secuted  and  banished  from  the  land,  on  account  of  the 
fanatical  and  indecent  excesses  of  some  Quaker  women  ; 
and  since  then  they  have  not  been  able  to  gain  much 
foothold  there.  They  will  undoubtedly  still  long  main 
tain  themselves,  and  fill  their  place  in  the  great  family  of 
Christendom  ;  but  they  will  always  be  limited  to  a  very 
small  sphere.  Their  youth  of  the  richer  and  higher 
families  desert  largely  either  to  the  Episcopal  Church  or  to 
the  indifferent  world. 

Among  the  American  Quakers  there  are  two  schools  : 
the  old  or  orthodox,  who  firmly  hold  to  the  Bible  and 
their  traditional  customs,  and  the  Hicksites  (from 
their  founder,  Elias  Hicks),  commonly  called  "  Hickory 
Quakers,"  who  hold  Unitarian  and  rationalistic  opinions 
on  the  trinity  and  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  identify  the 
inward  light  with  natural  reason.  These  liberal  Quakers 

10 


218        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

are  among  the  loudest  advocates  of  the  wildest  extrava 
gances  of  Garrisonian  abolitionism,  and  female  emanci 
pation.  I  have  myself  heard  a  Quakeress,  Lucretia 
Mott,  of  Philadelphia,  in  company  with  Garrison,  and 
regardless  of  all  true  female  delicacy,  deliver  before  a 
mixed  assembly  of  whites  and  blacks,  in  the  Baptist 
Church  of  K"orristown,  in  1848,  a  perfectly  fanatical 
discourse  against  the  American  Constitution,  and  in  favor 
of  the  full  equalization,  not  only  of  all  races,  but  also 
of  both  sexes.  The  moment  religious  life  is  extinguished, 
Quakerism  sinks  into  the  lowest  rationalism  and  skepti 
cism,  or  wanders  into  the  wildest  excesses  of  ultra  demo 
cracy  ;  the  overstrained  spiritualism  ends  in  the  flesh. 

(i)    THE    ROMAN    CHURCH. 

The  doctrine,  constitution,  and  worship  of  this  church 
I  need  not  describe.  They  are  the  same  in  the  Xew 
"World  as  in  the  Old.  In  fact,  this  church  is  wont,  you 
know,  to  boast  of  this  unity  and  unchangeableness  as  one 
of  its  greatest  virtues.  We  confine  ourselves,  therefore, 
to  a  view  of  its  actual  condition  and  its  prospects  in 
America. 

If  we  look  to  America  at  large,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  older  there  than  Protestantism  itself,  the  first 
discoveries  of  Columbus,  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot, 
Amerigo  Yespucci,  all  Roman  Catholics,  and  natives  of 
Italy  (with  the  exception  of  the  younger  Cabot,  who 
was  born  in  England),  having  preceded  the  Reformation 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  219 

of  the  sixteenth  century.  We  heartily  rejoice,  as  Chris 
tians,  that  the  idea  of  our  holy  religion  entered  largely 
into  the  bold  enterprise  of  the  noble  Genoese,  whose 
monument  is  a  whole  continent  in  fact,  though  not  in 
name,  and  of  his  royal  patroness,  Isabella  the  Catholic. 
When  he  first  presented  to  the  Queen  of  Castile  and 
Aragon  the  temptation  of  extending  her  dominions,  and 
pictured  the  dazzling  wealth  of  the  Indies,  it  made  no 
impression  upon  her.  But  when  he  spoke  of  the  poor 
heathen  on  the  distant  islands,  made  after  God's  image, 
with  souls  to  be  saved,  he  touched  her  inmost  heart,  and 
the  pious  queen  poured  her  jewels  into  the  cap  of  the 
enthusiast,'  who,  a  few  months  afterwards,  planted  the 
cross  on  the  island  of  San  Salvador,  and  took  possession 
of  a  New  World  in  the  name  of  Christ  our  Saviour,  and 
the  Crown  of  Spain.  Soon  after  his  return  he  wrote  from 
Lisbon  to  Sanchez,  the  treasurer  of  Spain  :  "  Let  pro 
cessions  be  made,  festivals  be  celebrated,  temples  be. 
adorned  with  branches  and  flowers  :  for  Christ  rejoices  on 
earth  and  in  heaven  in  view  of  the  future  redemption  of 
immortal  souls.  Let  us  rejoice  also  over  the  temporal 
advantage,  which  will  grow  out  of  the  discovery  to  Spain 
not  only,  but  to  all  Christendom."  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  after  hearing  the  report  of  the  discoverer,  fell 
on  their  knees  and  joined  in  the  Te  Deum  of  the  choir  of 
the  royal  chapel  in  celebration  of  the  glorious  conquest 
to  the  church  as  well  as  to  the  State,  They  immediately 
ordered  the  Indians,  whom  Columbus  had  brought  with 
him,  to  be  educated  as  missionaries,  and  sent  as  early  as 


220        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

1498,  twelve  priests  in  addition,  to  the  western  hemi 
sphere. 

Our  joy  in  this  beautiful  prelude  of  American  history 
would  be  still  greater  and  purer,  if  the  first  emigrants 
from  Spain  had  not  dishonored  their  Christian  profession 
by  barbarous  cruelty  against  the  native  heathens,  and  by 
the  worst  vices  of  civilization,  which  force  even  from  a 
Roman  Catholic  historian  the  honest  confession  :  "In 
vain  almost  was  the  building  of  Christian  churches  and 
the  founding  of  episcopal  sees  under  such  circumstances  ; 
for  the  Indians  had  such  a  just  aversion  against  the  reli 
gion  of  their  oppressors,  that  the  Cazike  Hatney  said, 
the  money  was  the  God  of  the  Christians,  and  he  did  not 
wish  even  to  go  to  heaven,  if  Spaniards  should  ever  get 
there."* 

If  the  Pope  of  Rome  were  infallible  in  the  exercise  of 
his  power,  the  whole  of  the  American  continent  together 
with  the  islands  would  now  be  the  sole  property  of  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  Crown  of  Spain.  For  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  mediaBval  papacy,  that  the  successor 
of  Peter  and  the  vicar  of  Christ  had  a  right  to  dispose 
of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  in  grateful  consi 
deration  of  the  merits  of  the  Spanish  monarchs  in 
suppressing  Mohammedanism  in  their  territory,  Alexander 
VI.,  of  infamous  memory,  himself  a  Spaniard  by  birth, 
gave  the  whole  western  hemisphere  to  the  Crown  of 


*  Hefele,  Der  Cardinal  Ximenes  und  die  Kirchlichen  Zustande  Spaniens  am 
Ende  des  15,  und  Anfang  dea  16  Jahrhunderts  (1314),  p.  513. 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  221 

Spain  as  an  inheritance.*  But  in  this,  as  well  as  in 
regard  to  the  geographical  situation  of  the  new  dis 
covery,  f  both  Rome  and  Spain  were  greatly  mistaken, 
and  doomed  to  disappointment.  God  in  his  providence 
had  'destined  the  northern  half  of  the  New  World  as  a 
hospitable  asylum  for  all  nations  and  churches  of  Europe, 
and  more  especially  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  for 
Protestantism,  which  so  soon  followed  the  discovery  of 
America,  as  if  this  had  prepared  anew  home  for  it.  In 
Central  and  South  America,  Romanism  and  the  Romanic 
race  are  still  in  undisturbed  possession  of  power,  it  is 
true,  but  they  present  the  gloomy  picture  of  an  almost 
hopeless  stagnation  ;J  while  the  United  States,  with 

*  In  two  bulls  of  the  3d  and  4th  of  May,  1493,  Pope  Alexander  VI.  assigned 
to  Spain,  "  omnes  insulas  et  terras  ferinas  inventas  et  inveniendas,  detestas  et 
detegendas  versus  occidentem  et  meridiem,  fabricando  et  constituendo  unam 
linearn  a  Polo  Arctico,  scilicet  septentrione,  ad  Polum  Antarcticum,  scilicet 
meridiem  (sic  !)." 

t  It  is  well  known  that  Columbus  and  Amerigo  Vespucci  died  in  the  firm  con 
viction  that  they  had  only  touched  parts  of  Eastern  Asia.  Columbus  made 
even  his  men  swear  to  their  belief,  that  there  was  a  land  route  from  Cuba  to 
Spain  ("que  esta  tierra  de  Caba  fuese  la  tierra  firme  al  comienzo  de  las  Indias 
y  fin  a  quien  en  estas  partes  quisiere  venir  de  Espana  por  tierra").  Whosoever 
ventured  to  deny  it,  should  be  punished  with  a  hundred  strokes  and  the  loss  of 
his  tongue.  See  Alex.  v.  Humboldt's  Kosmos,  ii.  277  and  462  (German  edition) 
and  his  Examen  crit.,  etc.  t.  iv.  p.  233,  250,  261,  and  t.  v.  p.  182-185. 

:£  This  is  admitted  even  by  Roman  Catholic  writers.  See  e.  g.  "  Brownson's 
Review  "  for  July,  1855,  p.  320.  "  A  traveller  through  Mexico  is  struck  with  what 
appears  to  be  monuments  of  the  piety  of  the  Spanish  government.  Large  and 
magnificent  churches  were  built,  and  richly  endowed,  wherever  needed,  and  in 
no  country  was  more  ample  provision  made  for  the  material  support  of  religion  ; 
and  yet  in  no  country  was  the  religious  and  secular  instruction  of  the  people 
more  shamefully  neglected.  .  .  .  Spain  wanted  loyal  subjects,  not  free  and 
enlightened  citizens.  The  state  of  religion  in  Cuba,  the  queen  of  the  Antilles, 


222       THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

their  predominantly  Germanic  and  Protestant  population, 
are  the  very  embodiment  of  life  and  progress. 

On  the  free  Republican  and  Puritanic  soil  of  North 
America  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  with  its  mediaeval 
traditions,  centralized  priestly  government,  and  extreme 
conservatism,  seems  to  be  almost  an  anomaly,  but  is  per 
haps  just  on  this  account  necessary  and  useful  as  a  check 
and  corrective  for  the  extremes  of  Protestantism  and  re 
ligious  radicalism.  Her  first  appearance  on  the  territory 
now  belonging  to  the  Union,  was  in  Florida,  which  was 
discovered  by  the  Spaniards,  under  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon, 
in  1512,  but  not  annexed  to  the  United  States  till  1820. 
After  several  unsuccessful  attempts  the  Spaniards,  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  strong  with  five  hundred  negro 
slaves,  took  possession  of  Florida  on  the  28th  of  August, 
1565,  the  day  of  St.  Augustin,  founded  the  town  called  by 
that  name,  which  is  thus  forty  years  older  than  any  other 
town  in  the  Union,  and  butchered  about  nine  hundred 
Huguenot  settlers  a  little  further  north,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  without  any  provocation,  "  not  as 
Frenchmen,  but  as  Calvinists."  The  French  government 
of  Charles  IX.  cared  nothing  for  this  outrage  upon  its 
Protestant  subjects,  who  were  murdered  at  home  in  the 
terrible  St.  Bartholomew's  night  of  1572.  But"  the 
Huguenots  effected  a  private  expedition  for  bloody 
revenge  in  1563,  and  after  having  killed  some  Spaniards, 
"  not  as  Spaniards  and  sailors,  but  as  traitors,  robbers, 

is  most  deplorable,  and  would  gain  immensely  by  the  annexation  of  the  island 
to  the  American  Union." 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  223 

and  murderers,"  they  returned  to  France,  not  being  strong 
enough  for  a  permanent  occupation.  May  this  bloody 
prelude  of  North  American  church  history  never  be 
repeated  on  American  soil. 

In 'broad  and  most  honorable  contrast  with  this  Spanish 
bigotry  and  cruelty,  working  of  the  palmy  days  of  the 
Inquisition,  stands  the  conduct  of  the  two  hundred 
people,  mostly  English  Catholic  gentlemen  with  their 
servants,  who  under  Leonard  Calvert,  brother  of  George 
Calvert,  better  known  as  Lord  Baltimore,  landed  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac  in  1634,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  colony  of  Maryland.  It  is  certainly  a  very  remark 
able  fact,  that  this  Roman  Catholic  colony,  one  hundred 
and  forty  years  before  the  War  of  Independence,  about 
contemporaneously  with  the  persecuted  Baptist  Roger 
Williams,  but  more  fully  than  he,  and  nearly  fifty  years 
before  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  through  the  equally 
tolerant  Quaker  William  Penn,  proclaimed  the  principle 
of  the  fullest  religious  liberty,  and  acted  upon  it,  until  the 
Protestants  temporarily  overthrew  it. 

As  the  power  of  tradition  is  nowhere  greater  than  in 
the  Roman  church,  we  believe  that  this  example  of  Lord 
Baltimore  and  his  friends  will  always  have  a  very  decided 
influence  in  filling  the  minds  of  the  most  enlightened 
American  members  of  that  communion,  with  aversion 
to  all  penal  laws  in  matters  of  conscience,  and  with 
a  strong  attachment  to  the  principle  of  religious  liberty. 

But  although  the  Roman  church  is  thus  closely  and 
honorably  identified  with  the  history  of  one  of  the  oldest 


224        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

of  the  original  States  of  the  North  American  confedera 
tion,  it  remained  very  small  and  unimportant  till  a  com 
paratively  recent  period.  Of  all  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  only  one  was  a  catholic. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  there  was 
hardly  a  place  in  the  colonies  except  Philadelphia,  where 
the  laws  of  the  land  permitted  a  Catholic  priest  to  cele 
brate  mass  ;  and  even  the  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island, 
which  from  the  days  of  Roger  Williams  allowed  free 
dom  of  conscience,  had  a  brief  disqualifying  clause  against 
the  Roman  Catholics,  which  was  not  removed  till  1784. 
The  first  Episcopal  see  was  founded  at  Baltimore,  in 
1790,  by  the  election  of  the  Rev.  John  Carroll,  a  Jesuit, 
and  cousin  to  Charles  Carroll  of  Carollton,  the  last 
though  not  least  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

Only  within  perhaps  the  last  twenty  years,  has  this 
church  begun  to  make  its  influence  felt  in  the  public  life 
of  the  United  States.  This  has  been  the  natural 
result,  partly  of  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  (1803), 
Florida  (1820),  and  Texas  (1844),  but  especially  of  a 
perfectly  massive  emigration  from  Catholic  Ireland,  which 
was  for  several  years  greater  than  that  from  all  other 
European  countries  put  together,  and  has  done  as  much 
to  depopulate  and  un-Romanize  Ireland,  as  to  people  and 
Romanize  America  and  Australia.  The  emigrants  from 
the  southern  parts  of  Ireland  have,  indeed,  many  good 
traits,  among  which  are  prominent,  generosity,  chastity, 
and  a  love  for  the  religion  of  their  fathers  undestroyed  by 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  225 

years  of  oppression  and  misery  ;  but  they  are  in  general 
terribly  neglected,  ignorant,  addicted  to  drunkenness  and 
profanity,  quarrelling  and  fighting,  not  seldom  in  the  open 
street  ;  and  they  form  on  the  whole  the  roughest  class  of 
the  -American  population.  Hence,  too,  they  are  by  no 
means  fitted  to  inspire  the  American,  who,  like  the  mass 
of  men  generally,  judges  from  appearances  and  single 
concrete  cases,  with  much  respect  for  the  Roman  church  ; 
for  they  do  not  seem  to  be  morally  improved  by  any 
number  of  masses  and  confessions,  which  they  scrupulously 
attend,  The  Irish  and  their  descendants  form  the  majo 
rity  of  most  of  the  Catholic  congregations,  especially  in 
the  large  cities,  and  they  furnish  also  most  of  the  priests 
and  bishops.  Archbishop  Hughes  of  New  York,  for 
example,  and  Archbishop  Kenrick  of  Baltimore,  the  for 
mer  the  shrewdest,  the  latter  the  meekest  and  most  learned 
of  the  Roman  prelates  of  America,  as  also  the  latter's 
brother,  the  Archbishop  of  St  Louis,  and  Archbishop 
Purcell  of  Cincinnati,  are  all  natives  of  Ireland. 

Then  the  Roman  Church  draws  a  constant  accession 
from  Germany,  especially  from  Bavaria,  Wiirtemberg, 
Baden,  and  the  Rhenish  provinces  ;  also  from  France, 
and  to  some  extent  from  Spain  and  Italy.  Of  the  German 
emigrants  perhaps  one  third  are  Roman  Catholic.  They 
do  not  however  agree  very  well  with  the  Irish.  They 
have  their  own  religious  journals,  perhaps  half  a  dozen, 
and  sometimes,  with  commendable  zeal,  build  themselves 
churches  of  their  own,  of  which  St.  Peter's  in  New  York, 
and  St.  Alphonsus7  in  Baltimore  (both  founded  by  the 

10* 


226        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

Redemptorists),  are  among  the  largest  and  finest  in  all 
America.  The  French  have  settled  principally  in  the 
State  of  Louisiana,  and  have  hitherto  formed  in  New 
Orleans  the  majority  of  the  population  ;  but  they  are 
now  obliged  gradually  to  adopt  the  English  language. 
These  likewise  furnish  many  priests,  bishops,  and  sisters 
of  charity. 

On  the  proper  body  of  the  American  nation,  the 
substantial  middle  class,  if  such  we  may  speak  of  in  a 
republic  (and  such  one  must  find  after  all),  the  Roman 
Church  has  very  slight  hold.  As  in  England  and  Scotland, 
so  in  America,  it  meets  only  the  extremes  of  society, 
especially  the  lowest,  poorest,  and  most  uncultivated  class 
of  emigrants,  who  form,  so  to  speak,  its  flesh  and  blood  ; 
embracing  also,  almost  everywhere,  a  larger  or  smaller 
number  of  influential  families  of  the  higher  and  educated 
order,  including  many  converts  from  the  different  Pro 
testant  denominations,  especially  the  Episcopal. 

The  Roman  Church  may  now  number  near  two  millions 
of  members,  not  quite  one  twelfth  of  the  population  of  the 
Union.  She  is,  there  as  everywhere,  very  well  organized, 
and  in  all  more  important  enterprises  operates  as  a 
compact  unit  ;  while  Protestantism  is  full  of  discord. 
She  already  has  a  diocese  in  almost  every  State  of  the 
Union  ;  including  six  archepiscopal  sees,  of  which  Balti 
more  (the  metropolitan),  New  York,  and  Cincinnati  are 
the  most  important  and  influential.  Her  higher  clergy 
are  wisely  chosen,  and  among  them  are  many  very  able, 
earnest,  self-denying,  and  worthy  men.  The  jealous  watch- 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  221 

ing  of  thousands  of  Protestant  eyes  lias  a  good  effect  on 
their  morality  and  zeal  ;  and  places  them  in  these  resjxcfs 
far  in   advance   of  the   dead  and  corrupt  priesthood  of 
purely  Catholic  countries,  like  Mexico,  or  Portugal,  or 
Sicily.     In  the  larger  cities  she  is  building  costly  and 
imposing  cathedrals,  for  which  she  is  receiving  constant 
aid  from  Europe,  especially  from  France.     At  the  same 
time  she  is  everywhere  establishing  schools  (very  frequently 
attended  by  Protestant  youth),  infirmaries,  and  orphan 
asylums  under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits,  Redemptorists, 
and    Sisters    of    Charity  ;    nay,    even    monasteries    and 
nunneries,   in  striking  contrast  with  the  driving  secular 
activity  of  the  country.     She  knows  how  to  use  the  lever 
of  the  public  press  for  her  purposes,  and  endeavors  to 
keep  pace  with  the  enormous  journalizing  zeal  of  America. 
Besides  many  weeklies  and  monthlies,  she  brings  out  re 
prints  and  translations  of  the  most  important  Catholic 
works  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  many  original 
productions.     She  is  beginning  also  to  mix  in  politics 
and  control  the  elections.     But  this  very  effort  for  power 
and  political  influence  may  prove  extremely  dangerous  to 
her,   if  not  fatal.     Quite  lately,  at  the  instance  of  the 
National  Council  of  Baltimore,  she  has  made  systematic 
attacks,  in  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Mary 
land,  Ohio,    and   Michigan,    on    the    public   elementary 
schools,  conducted  by  the  state  and  mainly  subject  to 
Protestant   influence.     She  has  attempted,  though  thus 
far  without  the  least  success,  to  destroy  them,  in  order 
(and  one  can  hardly  blame  her  for  it)  to  rid  her  own 


228        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

youth  of  the  contaminating  influence  of  schools,  in  which 
either  no  religion  at  all  is  taught,  or  the  Protestant  Bible 
is  read,  and  a  Protestant  tone  pervades  the  whole  system 
of  teaching,  as  well  as  the  personal  character  of  the  great 
majority  of  teachers  and  pupils. 

From  all  this  it  is  plain,  that  the  Roman  Church  is 
awake,  and  seeking  in  every  way  to  make  herself  felt. 
Nay,  the  confident  and  not  seldom  most  arrogant  tone  of 
her  press  clearly  shows,  that  she  entertains  the  highest 
hopes  of  her  future  in  the  United  States,  and  contemplates 
yet  most  brilliant  triumphs  there. 

It  seems  to  me,  many  of  the  most  educated  and  dis 
cerning  Catholics  cannot  help  feeling,  that  the  Romanic 
nations  of  southern  Europe  and  central  and  South 
America  have  so  far  outlived  themselves,  as  to  afford,  at 
least  in  their  present  condition,  no  hopes  of  any  new 
spiritual  movement  from  Italy,  Spain,  or  Portugal,  Mexico 
or  Brazil  ;  that  the  Pope  in  Rome  itself  sits  on  a  volcano, 
and  will  probably  be  driven  away  by  a  new  eruption  of 
radicalism,  when  the  French  bayonets  are  withdrawn. 
On  fickle,  revolutionary  France,  where  there  has  been 
nothing  but  revolution  and  reaction  since  1789,  where 
infidelity  rules  to-day,  and  nltramontanism  to-morrow, 
and  where  the  church  of  St.  Genevieve  can  as  easily 
become  again  in  a  few  years  a  pantheon  of  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau,  who  still  sleep  in  its  vaults,  as  it  could  already 
be  twice  transformed  from  an  idol  temple  into  a  church  ; 
— on  France,  no  dependence  can  be  placed,  though  just 
now,  under  the  favor  of  Napoleon  III.,  Catholicism  in  its 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  229 

most  extravagant  forms  is  in  full  sway  there,  and  seenis 
even  to  have  extinguished  Gallicanism  for  the  present. 
In  the  East  and  North  of  Europe  the  Roman  Church 
comes  upon  her  old  hereditary  and  arch-enemy,  the  Greek, 
and  upon  the  colossal  domain  of  the  Emperor-Pope  of  St. 
Petersburg,  who  hates  in  the  Pope  of  Rome  his  most 
dangerous  rival.  Hence  she  turns  her  eye  to  the  heart 
and  the  West  of  Europe,  to  the  solid,  vigorous  Germanic 
nationality,  to  Germany,  particularly  Prussia,  and  above 
all  to  the  world-ruling  Anglo-Saxon  race,  to  Great 
Britain,  which  spans  almost  every  sea,  and  to  its  teeming 
rival,  North  America.  Could  she  once  conquer  England 
and  the  New  World,  and  re-assimilate  the  Germanic 
nationality,  she  would  gain  a  victory  more  mighty  and 
important  than  even  her  first  Christianizing  of  the 
Germans,  and  her  triumph  over  the  universal  empire  of 
heathen  Rome.  "  Give  us  the  West,"  said  the  Catholic 
Bishop  England,  of  South  Carolina,  "  and  we  shall  soon 
take  care  of  the  East."  He  referred,  indeed,  immediately 
only  to  the  Western  States  of  America  in  their  relation 
to  the  Atlantic  coast  ;  but  this  significant  word  can  be  as 
properly  applied  in  a  wider  sense. 

But  such  a  re-conquest  of  the  Germanic  nationality,  and 
assimilation  of  the  German,  English^  and  Anglo-American 
Protestantism,  would  be  at  the  same  time  a  complete 
regeneration  and  rejuvenation  of  Catholicism  itself.  For 
the  many  living  elements  of  Germanism  and  Protestantism, 
thus  absorbed,  would  sooner  or  later  inevitably  revive  and 
transform  the  old  system,  if  not  produce  in  it  a  funda 
mental  reformation. 


•230  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

From  some  such  point  of  view,  which  perhaps  many 
Catholics  hold,  though  they  do  not  avow  it,  we  can  under 
stand  the  high  hopes  which  they  have  for  their  future  in 
the  western  countries,  and  the  enormous  efforts  which, 
to  the  shame  of  European  Protestants  be  it  said,  they  are 
making  in  North  America  for  the  advancement  and  per 
manent  establishment  of  their  interests. 

What   tends   more   than   all   else,  to  encourage   and 
strengthen  these  hopes,  is   the  Romanizing   movements 
which  have  been  for  some  twenty  or  thirty  years  spreading 
through  many  portions  of  Protestantism  itself.     The  tran 
sitions  of  prominent  German  writers,  from  Stolberg  and  Hal- 
ler  to  Huster  and  Gfrorer,  are  well-known.      That  the  tide 
towards  strictly  confessional  Lutheranism,  of  late  so  rapidly 
swelling,  and  the  growing  disposition  to  insist  on  outward 
visible  unity  and  historical  continuity  of  the  church,  on 
altar-service,  on  the  idea  of  sacrifice,  on  a  more  compact 
form  of  Government,  and  many  other  things,  tend,  though 
unknown  to  most  persons,  towards  Catholicism,  can  hardly 
be  denied.      Yet  this  is  by  no  means  saying  they  must 
necessarily  end  in  Rome  ;  they  may  .possibly,  on  the  con 
trary,  form  a  strong  barrier  against  this  extreme,  as  well 
as  against  infidelity.     On  this  we  are  not  here  called  to 
decide.     Still  more  Diking  and  remarkable  is  the  great 
Puseyite   movement   in  the   English   Episcopal  church, 
which  began  in  1833,  and  has  resulted  in  the  transition 
of  some  of  her  greatest  divines,  as  Newman,  and  of  her 
worthiest  clergymen,  as  Manning.      So  the  system  of 
Irvingism,  of  almost  contemporaneous  origin,  and  likewise 
very  worthy  of  attention,  is  far  more  Catholic  than  Pro- 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  231 

testant  in  doctrine,  government,  and  worship,  while  it 
draws  its  strength  in  England  and  Germany  almost 
entirely  from  the  Protestant  ranks. 

These  catholicizing  tendencies  have  made  their  appear 
ance  within  some  twenty  years  past,  at  least  have  feebly 
begun  to  do  so,  even  in  America,  in  spite  of  its  decided 
Protestant  character,  and  iu  fact,  to  some  extent,  as  a 
natural  reaction  against  it.  In  the  American  Episcopal 
church,  so  closely  connected  with  the  Anglican,  the  Pusey- 
ite  movement  found  an  immediate  response,  and  has 
already  brought  many  offerings  from  this  quarter  to  the 
Roman  church,  among  which  are  some  twenty  or  thirty 
clergymen,  and  even  one  bishop,  though  one  of  no  great 
weight  either  of  intellect  or  character.  It  is  an  interest 
ing  fact,  that  in  America,  as  in  England,  the  most  learned 
and  gifted  champions  of  modern  Catholicism,  as  Brownson 
and  Newman,  as  well  as  the  editors  of  most  of  the  Catho 
lic  church  periodicals,  the  u  Freeman's  Journal"  of  New- 
York,  the  "Catholic  Herald,"  of  Philadelphia,  the 
"Shepherd  of  the  Valley,"  of  St.  Louis  (now  defunct), 
and  "  Brownson's  Review,"  of  Boston,  are  apostate  Pro 
testants.  This  fact  argues,  however,  as  much  against  as 
for  the  Roman  church.  It  shows,  indeed,  that  she  has 
power  to  draw  even  talented  and  accomplished  minds  to 
herself ;  but  it  also  shows  that  she  has  to  depend  on  Pro 
testantism  for  her  most  effective  forces  and  her  most 
skillful  advocates.  Most  of  these  editors  are  laymen,  and 
married,  who  could  not  well  make  themselves  useful  to 
the  church  of  their  adoption  in  any  other  line.  This 


232  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

grgwing  theological  influence  of  laymen,  which  appears 
also  in  Europe  (think  of  the  editors  of  the  "Ram 
bler,"  the  "Uuivers,"  the  "Historisch-Poliiische 
Blatter,"  etc.),  is  quite  a  new  and  interesting  phenome 
non  in  the  history  of  the  papacy,  and  may  prepare  the 
way  for  some  important  change. 

Orestes  Brownson,  of  Boston,  a  consummate  logician  and 
controversialist,  who  crossed  the  Rubicon  in  1844,  and 
went  right  into  the  heart  of  the  Italian  territory,  is  in 
regard  to  talent,  undoubtedly  the  most  important  convert 
the  Roman  church  has  yet  made  in  America  ;  though  in 
character  he  has  far  less  weight  than  Newman,  Manning, 
or  Wilberforce.  He  now  defends  extreme  ultramontanism 
with  the  same  unrivalled  dialectic  skill,  brilliant  eloquence, 
and  unscrupulous  sophistry,  though  always  in  decent  and 
pure  language,  with  which  he  formerly  vindicated  radical 
democracy  and  all  possible  phases  of  negative  Protestant 
ism  (its  positive  evangelical  life  he  probably  never  tasted), 
even  to  downright  pantheistic  infidelity.  This  itself  will 
account  for  his  enjoying  so  little  confidence  and  exerting 
far  less  influence  upon  the  Protestant  reading  community, 
than  his  rare  talents  would  lead  one  to  suppose.  A  man, 
who  can  prove  everything,  in  a  moral  point  of  view 
proves  nothing.  In  spite  of  all  his  asseverations  (notice 
ably  repeated,  and  for  this  reason  rather  suspicious)  of 
absolute  submission  to  the  infallible  authority  of  the 
pope  and  even  of  his  diocesan  bishop,  Brownson  has  still 
in  the  bottom  of  his  heart  a  whole  mass  of  Protestant 
principles  and  impulses  of  independence  and  private  judg- 


THE    ROMAN    CHUKCH.  §88 

incut,  and  remains  a  restless  agitator  and  democrat.  Only 
lie  now  thinks  the  llonwn  church  alone  can  save  Ameri 
can  liberty  and  the  American  Republic,  while  IK-  has  the 
shameless  effrontery  to  reproach  Protest;! nii  m  with 
favoring  everywhere  civil  and  religious  d'^poii  m  -.n\<\ 
barbarism.* 

The  Catholics,  however,  look  further  than  these  isolated 

*  How  he  can  reconcile  thin  bold  assertion,  often  repeated  in  IiU  Ilevi'-w  and 
public  lectures  with  bin  recent  admission  that  the  Uornan  Catholic  •  •nnn-li 
enjoys  more  freedom  in  the  predomloanlly  Protestant  United  States,  the  Know- 
Nothlng  movement  DOtWltbltftoding,  than  In  any  Roman  Catholic  country  of 
the  globe,  we  mu.-.i.  leave  to  1m  logic,  which  never  fails  him.  "There  Is  no 
cause,"  he  says  in  his  Review  for  July,  18&5,  page  408,  In  an  article  agalna 
Know-NothlugUm  (which,  by  the  by,  he  most  ably  defended  to  tin:  great  Indig 
nation  of  the  IriHh,  about  a  year  ago,  when  he  vainly  hoped  to  be  able  to  con 
trol  the  anti-Catholic  fanaticism  of  this  party),—"  there  U  no  cause  f<.r  our 
Catholic  friends  abroad  to  feel  any  alarm  for  Ai, 
an  es,  vexations,  and  petty  peruecutlons  we  have  .1  i 
continuQ  to  suffer;  but  nothing  can  justify  the  desponding  tone  «.!'  ilio-.<-  who 
arc  advising  Catholics  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  to  South  America,  or  to  some 
other  country.  There  is  no  country  where  the  church  Is  freer  than  she  Is  here, 
and  no  country,  Protestant  or  even  Catholic,  where,  after  all,  eccli-'i.v-ii'-.-il  pro 
perty  is  safer  than  with  us.  Look  at  Mexico,  New  Granada,  Central  America, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Sardinia,  the  Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  Baden,  Havana, 
and  AiiHtrla,  and  tell  us  if  Catholics  are  freer,  or  their  church  property  safer, 
than  in  our  Republic  ?  We  can  speak  as  freely  In  our  Review  on  political  and 
rellgiouH  topics  as  we  please,  and  yet  the  CMlta  Cattollca,  published  at  Rome, 
an  eminently  Catholic  periodical,  is  prohibited  In  the  Catholic  Kinplorn  of  tin- 
TWO  Sicilies  (we  add,  by  the  p.peclal  protector,  a  frii-nd  of  I'm.  i\.,  when  in 
exile),  and  has  lo»t,- we *r» told, feur thooiftnd tnbMrUxrs bjr th«  prohiiiiiion. 

The  CorretpOnddlK-  'nolle,  |,i-rio<lir:il  puljli-.liril  m   Kn-n.-h    :,' 

was  suppressed,  in  on!«-r  not  lo  oll'«-nd  Fr<-nrh  s'-n^ihilliic-i.  Noildngof  the  sort 
has  taken  or  in  liLdy  lo  tul..-  pl'i<-.-  IH-I-.-,  :m.|  tin's  is  proliiil.ly  tin-  only  .".untry 
where  the  Catholic  press  Is  absolutely  free.  L«-i  BiDOl  !•'•  Inttnilble  '"  Hn-:i.l- 
vantages  we  enjoy,  nor  tolerate  without  rebuke  those  mi»gu!d«l  j-.m-n.-ili-tH,  who, 
under  pretence  of  defending  Catholic,  but  more  especially  Irish,  Interests  In 
America,  traduce  the  country  abroad." 


23-4        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AXD  SECTS. 

cases  of  conversion.  They  believe  that  especially  in  Ame 
rica,  where  it  has  not  the  benefit  of  state  support  and 
protection,  and  is  left  to  its  own  centrifugal  tendencies, 
Protestantism  will  continue  to  dissolve  into  sects  and 
parties,  till  it  reduces  itself  to  atoms,  and  thus,  wearied 
with  the  endless  fluctuation  of  subjectivity,  and  longing 
for  repose  in  some  tangible  infallible  authority,  negatively 
prepares  i!self  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  the  one 
unchangeable  Catholic  church. 

It  is  unquestionably  very  probable,  that  the  ultimate 
fate  of  the  Reformation  will  be  decided  in  America  ;  that 
it  will  there  be  proven,  whether  the  work  was  of  God  or 
of  man  ;  and  this  gives  that  country,  according  to  human 
calculation,  which  it  is  true  may  deceive,  its  extraordi 
nary  prospective  importance  for  church-history.  Both 
the  great  parties  of  Christendom  are  assembling  there 
from  all  quarters  of  the  Old  World,  and  arming  them 
selves  for  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  decisive  battles, 
which  the  pages  of  history  will  record.  The  sagacious 
Cardinal  Archbishop  Wiseman  is  reported  to  have  said 
once,  in  the  sweet  dream  of  England's  being  already  in 
principle  won  over  to  Rome,  that  the  Catholic  church 
would  strike  her  last  blow  of  conquest  on  the  sands  of 
Brandenburg  ;  probably  on  the  "Kopeniker  Felde"  near 
Berlin,  where,  close  to  the  magnificent  evangelical  dea 
coness  house  of  Bethany,  she  is  now  erecting  a  splendid 
cathedral,  and  in  a  great  measure  with  funds  willingly 
furnished  by  a  Protestant  King,  who  also  liberally  aided 
the  building  of  the  Cologne  Cathedral  as  a  symbol  of 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  235 

future  union.  We  have  not  the  slightest  doubt,  that  on 
the  sandy  plains  of  Prussia's  Capital  great  and  momentous 
things  will  yet  take  place,  especially  in  the  empire  of 
thought,  which  after  all  rules  the  world.  But  we 
think  the  last  decisive  engagement  between  Romanism 
and  Protestantism  will  fall  not  in  Europe,  not  even  in  the 
world's  emporium  of  London  and  the  learned  halls  of 
venerable,  medieval  Oxford,  but  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud 
son,  the  Susquehanuah,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Sacra 
mento  ;  and  that  it  will  result  in  favor  not,  as  the  san 
guine  Papists  think,  of  the  Roman,  but  "of  an  evangelical 
Catholicism.  What  is  true  and  great  and  good  and  beau 
tiful  in  the  hoary  but  still  vigorous  Catholic  church,  should, 
must,  and  will  be  preserved  ;  but  its  temporary  form,  the 
papacy,  must  perish,  and  with  it  saint  and  relic  worship, 
the  spirit  of  persecution,  tyranny  over  conscience,  and 
everything  which  makes  believing  Protestants,  with  all 
their  longing  for  church  unity,  and  all  their  grief  over  the 
weaknesses  and  faults  of  their  own  system,  still  stand 
apart  from  the  Roman  church  for  conscience'  sake,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  dearest  blessings  of  the  holy  Gospel,  and 
immediate  communion  with  Christ,  our  all-sufficient 
Saviour. 

Meantime,  however,  in  America,  as  in  England  and 
Germany,  Protestantism  must  be  expected  to  lose  many 
more  noble  spirits,  repelled  by  the  growing  sectarian  con 
fusion,  and  unduly  attracted  by  the  idea  of  unity  and 
catholicity,  by  the  truly  imposing  organization  of  the 
Roman  church,  her  rich  and  fascinating  worship,  her  monk- 


236        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

ish  asceticism,  or  her  supernatural  halo  of  miracles  and 
saints.  And  Romanism,  on  her  part,  will  have  still  to 
suffer  mighty  convulsions  and  deep  humiliations,  before 
she  will  consent  to  abate  anything  from  her  measureless 
claims,  to  bow  in  simplicity  before  the  Gospel  and  to 
give  Christ  all  the  honor  due  to  his  name. 

Our  view  here  of  the  prospects  of  the  two  confessions 
in  America,  is  based  chiefly  on  the  vital  energy  of  Pro 
testantism,  which  has  already  survived  so  many  storms, 
and  thrown  off  so  much  morbid  matter  ;  and  on  the  con 
viction  that  the  evangelical  truth,  which  was  brought 
out  from  the  inexhaustible  mines  of  .Holy  Scripture  by 
the  spirit  of  God  in  the  times  of  the  Reformation,  as 
well  as  the  evangelical  freedom,  which  springs  from  this 
truth,  can  never  perish,  but,  in  spite  of  all  hindrances, 
must  spread  in  ever  enlarging  circles.  But  with  this,  we 
have  also  other  reasons,  why  we  think  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  Romanism  in  America  impossible. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  remark  the  fact,  that  the 
Roman  church  in  the  United  States,  though  it  has  consi 
derably  grown,  as  facts  previously  stated  show,  still  has 
not  kept  pace  with  the  number  of  Roman  Catholic  emi 
grants  and  the  increase  of  the  leading  Protestant 
denominations.  To  estimate  its  progress  fairly,  we  must 
not  take  it  by  itself,  but  in  its  relation  to  the  whole 
country,  where  almost  everything  grows  with  unheard-of 
rapidity.  The  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Baptist,  Episco 
pal,  Lutheran,  German  Reformed  churches,  have  doubled 
within  a  few  decades  ;  and  this  growth  will  continue  as 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  237 

long  as  emigration  continues.  Nay,  more.  The  Roman 
church  has  even  lost  in  proportion.  Several  of  her  own 
sheets  bemoan,  from  time  to"  time,  the  apostasy  of  so 
many  immigrant  Irish,  Germans,  and  French  from  their 
mother  church.  Within  the  last  five  and  twenty  years, 
according  'to  reliable  Roman  Catholic  accounts,  she  has 
lost  about  two  millions  of  Irish  ;  so  that  the  present 
numerical  strength  of  Romanism  is  hardly  as  great  as  its 
loss  in  this  quarter  alone.  Add  to  this,  that  in  a  country, 
where  every  one  is  free  to  choose  his  own  religion,  the 
religion  of  the  minority  is  always  at  a  disadvantage. 
And  this  may  be  said  with  double  force  of  the  Roman 
church,  on  account  of  its  peculiar  character  as  related  to 
the  genius  of  the  American  nation. 

For  the  Roman  church — and  this  is  the  second  argu 
ment  against  her  progress — is  extremely  unpopular  in 
America.  She  has,  indeed,  as  much  freedom  before  the 
law,  as  any  Protestant  denomination,  and  more  than 
she  has  in  most  Roman  Catholic  countries  ;  for  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  Congress  to 
interfere  in  any  way,  positively  or  negatively,  with  mat 
ters  of  religious  conviction,  handing  these  over  to  the 
exclusive  care  of  the  churches  and  sects.  But  the  ruling 
spirit  of  the  nation,  and  its  institutions,  and  the  power  of 
public  opinion,  are  most  thoroughly  Protestant,  more  so 
than  in  any  German  State,  or  even  in  England.*  If  the 

*  Even  Brownson  admits  this  in  opposition  to  certain  Irish  Catholic  asser 
tions  to  the  contrary.  "  The  undeniable  fact  is,"  he  says,  in  his  "  Review  "  for 
Jan.,  1855,  p.  140—"  that  the  United  States,  as  to  the  dominant  sentiment  of  the 
people,  are  more  decidedly  anti-Catholic  than  any  other  civilized  country  of 
the  globe." 


238        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

framers  of  the  Constitution  could  have  foreseen  the  future 
growth  and  importance  of  Romanism  in  the  States,  it  is 
not  unlikely,  that  they  would  have  inserted  some  disquali 
fying  clause,  and  if  the  Know-Nothing  party  should  ever 
get  the  control  of  central  legislation,  they  would,  in  all 
probability,  make  an  effort  to  do  it  yet,  at  least  as  far  as 
the  new  Catholic  emigration  is  concerned.  But  it  is  too 
late  now  for  any  organic  change  of  the  constitutional 
provisions  for  full  civil  and  religious  liberty  and  equality 
of  all  Christian  denominations.  The  great  battle  between 
Romanism  and  Protestantism  in  North  America  must  be 
fought  on  this  basis. 

In  Germany,  where  the  two  confessions  live  rather 
quietly  together  on  the  basis  of  the  Westphalian  peace, 
and  are  often  united  under  one  government,  you  can 
hardly  form  any  idea  of  the  deep-rooted  horror,  which 
Puritanism  and  Presbyterianism  have  for  Popery.  Only 
think  of  the  fact  that  so  dignified  and  considerate  a  body, 
as  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Old  School  Presbyterian 
church,  at  its  session  in  Cincinnati  in  1845,  solemnly  and 
almost  unanimously  unchurched  the  Church  of  Rome 
altogether,  and  out-poping  the  Pope,  declared  all  its  ordi 
nances,  even  baptism,  null  and  void  !  The  popular  Pro 
testantism  of  North  America  sees  in  Romanism  the 
bodily  Antichrist  ;  the  Man  of  Sin  predicted  by  Paul, 
who  exalts  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that 
is  worshipped  ;  the  Synagogue  of  Satan  ;  the  Beast  of 
of  the  Apocalypse  ;  the  Babylonian  whore  ;  an  enemy  of 
all  freedom  of  thought  and  faith  ;  a  fearful  power  of 
persecution  and  of  tyranny  over  the  conscience  ;  a  spiritual 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  239 

tyranny,  which,  if  it  rule,  must  also  lead  to  political 
despotism.  They  can  hardly  conceive  of  the  Roman 
clergy  as  embracing  any  honorable  and  pious  men  ;  but 
only  as  a  horde  of  slaves  under  a  foreign  despot,  the 
Pope  ;  a  band  of  avaricious  priests,  hypocrites,  and 
rascals.  This  spirit  pervades  the  religious  press  of  America, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  from  the  "New  York  Observer" 
to  the  most  obscure  sheet  of  the  smaller  sects,  which 
happens  to  sail  under  the  Protestant  flag  ;  and  many 
of  the  political  organs,  especially  those  conducted  by  the 
Native  American  party,  share  in  the  same  prejudices. 
The  Roman  Church  is  bemired  from  day  to  day  with  all 
possible  accusations  and  calumnies,  and  combated  with 
Scripture  quotations,  arguments,  mockery,  witticisms, 
horrible  stories  and  absurd  misrepresentations.  The  burn 
ing  of  the  Catholic  Convent  at  Charlestown  in  1834,  and 
of  St.  Augustine's  Church  in  Philadelphia  in  1844,  and  the 
public  insults  to  the  archbishop  and  papal  nuncio,  Bedini, 
in  1853,  not  to  speak  of  the  more  recent  committees  and 
enactments  of  Know  Nothing  legislatures,  are  the  natural 
fruit  of  this  fanatical  hatred,  which  at  once  meets  even 
those  Protestants,  who  have  the  courage  to  express  and 
vindicate  more  liberal  and  favorable  views  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

And  the  Catholic  press,  it  is  true,  does  no  better,  making 
allowance,  of  course,  for  some  honorable  exceptions. 
Brownson  lately  wrote  in  cold  blood,  that  the  Reformers, 
after  leaving  the  church  of  Rome,  had  not  a  single  natural 
virtue,  to  say  nothing  of  supernatural,  and  asserts  again 
and  again  that  Protestantism  is  no  religion  at  all :  but  a 


240  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 

sheer  negation,  a  destroyer,  a  rebellion  against  divine  and 
human  authority,  a  diabolical  movement  which  must  end 
in  absolute  infidelity.  The  "  Freeman's  Journal,"  of  New 
York,  is  full  of  bitter  mockery  and  malicious  exultation 
over  every  dispute  and  every  difficulty  in  the  Protestant 
camp,  and  shows  towards  us  the  same  loveless,  I  might 
almost  say  Mephistophelian  spirit,  as  the  Munich  "  His- 
torisch-Politische  Blatter,"  and  the  Paris  "  Univers." 

I  have  observed  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  presses  in 
America  for  years,  and  could  hardly  say  which  exceeds 
in  injustice,  deception,  misrepresentation,  and  passion. 
But  it  is  pretty  clear  that  such  illiberal! ty  and  bigotry  is 
far  more  inconsistent  with  Protestantism  than  with 
Romanism.  This  rabies  theologorum  in  America,  which, 
however,  shows  itself  of  late  in  Europe  also,  so  far  as 
religious  interest  and  freedom  of  the  press  prevail,  is  one 
of  those  most  unfortunate  things,  which  might  disgust 
many  a  man  with  the  calling  of  a  theologian.  It  must  be 
considered,  however,  that  religion  is  the  matter  of  deepest 
and  most  universal  interest  to  man,  and  therefore  enlists 
his  deepest  sympathies  and  antipathies,  awakens  his 
warmest  love-and  his  bitterest  hatred.  I  have  no  doubt 
there  are  many  Protestants  in  America,  who  would  vote 
on  the  spot  for  the  banishment  of  every  Catholic  priest, 
arid  would  justify  this  aet  by  their  very  theory  of  universal 
freedom  of  faith  and  conscience,  in  the  honest  conviction, 
that  the  priests,  especially  the  Jesuits,  are  the  sworn 
enemies  of  this  freedom,  and  are  secretly  working  to 
destroy  it. 

T5us,  while  the  Roman  Church  unquestionably  has  in 


THE    ROMAN    CHURCH.  241 

America  free  play,  full  civil  qualification,  and  unrestrained 
intercourse  with  her  centre,  in  which  she  has  often  been 
in  various  ways,  and  still  is  in  some  instances,  embarrassed 
even  by  many  Catholic  princes,  jealous  of  their  sovereign 
rights,  in  Spain,  France,  Austria  ;  she  has  on  the  other 
hand  a  hard  lot.  She  has  to  swim  against  the  stream  of 
public  opinion,  which  in  republican  North  America  is  more 
nearly  almighty  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world  ;  and 
which  sees  in  Romanism  not  the  pure,  simple  Gospel  with 
the  branch  of  peace,  but  an  enslaving  politico-ecclesiastical 
organization  and  an  ambitious  and  intolerant  hierarchy. 

But  finally  ;  the  American-born  generation  of  Catholics 
cannot  possibly  remain  entirely  uninfluenced  by  the  free 
political  institutions,  and  the  thoroughly  Protestant  spirit 
of  the  country.  Their  bishops,  it  is  true,  so  far  as  I  know, 
belong  without  exception  to  the  ultramontane  school,  and 
were  amongst  the  most  earnest  to  urge  upon  the  Pope 
the  propriety  of  solemnly  declaring  the  dogma  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  ;  but  they  are  mostly  foreigners 
by  birth  and  education.  The  laity  cannot  be  judged  of 
by  them.  The  majority  of  these,  especially  the  Irish  and 
Germans,  in  political  matters,  go  with  even  the  Democratic 
party,  the  left  wing  of  the  Republic  ;  and  the  longer  they 
live  in  America,  the  more  they  become  familiarized  with 
political  and  social  views  quite  foreign  to  the  genius  of 
Romanism.  I  know  only  one  theological  sheet,  which  has 
ventured  there  to  advocate,  for  example,  the  principle  of 
the  persecution  of  heretics  by  civil  punishments  ;  while 
Archbishops  Kenrick  and  Hughes,  and  several  other 

11 


242        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

groans  have  publicly  disavowed  it,  the  first  from  personal 
mildoess,  the  others  at  least  from  prudent  regard  to 
public  opinion.  But  the  public  schools  especially,  which, 
even  where  religion  is  not  directly  taught,  are  still  Pro 
testant  in  the  general  character  of  the  pupils  and  teachers, 
will  gradually  free  the  Catholic  youth  from  the  exclusive 
influence  of  the  priesthood,  and  put  them  on  a  more  liberal 
track.  This  may,  indeed,  drive  them  to  skepticism  and 
unbelief ;  but  it  may  also  lead  them  to  positive  evangelical 
Protestantism.  Hence  the  vigorous  efforts  of  the  hierarchy 
against  these  schools,  in  which  it  justly  sees  its  life  in 
danger.  I  doubt,  however,  whether  it  will  ever  succeed 
in  overthrowing  them  ;  though  we  ourselves  regard  them 
as  very  defective  in  the  matter  of  religious  education,  and 
as  needing  the  addition  of  special  denominational  instruc 
tion. 

Catholicism,  therefore,  must  in  process  of  time  assume 
a  more  liberal  character  in  America,  than  in  Europe.  It 
must  more  or  less  approach  evangelical  Protestantism. 
The  Pope,  it  is  true,  will  never  yield  as  Pope.  But  we 
know  not  what  events  may  take  place  in  his  communion 
in  spite  of  him.  The  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  Jansenism  and  Gallicanisni  of  the  seventeenth  ; 
proceeded  from  its  bosom  and  may  be  followed  by  similar 
or  still  greater  movements.  On  the  other  hand  the 
jejune  and  contracted  theology  of  popular  American 
Protestantism  must  likewise,  and  will  no  doubt,  undergo 
in  course  of  time  a  considerable  revolution,  especially  since 
the  best,  most  learned  Protestant  historians,  both  secular 


THE    MORMONS.  243 

and  ecclesiastical,  English  and  German,  have  taught  us 
to  view  the  history  of  the  church  before  the  Reformation, 
in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in  which  Puritanism 
used,  to  regard  it.  Such  changes  in  theological  opinion  would 
no  doubt  also  affect  the  religious  sentiment,  and  greatly 
contribute  towards  removing  the  bigoted  prejudices  of  the 
two  confessions,  until  the  present  relation  of  bitter  enmity 
be  exchanged  for  one  of  mutual  respect  and  love. 

(j)     THE    MORMOXS. 

I  confess,  I  would  fain  pass  over  this  sect  in  silence. 
It  really  lies  out  of  the  pale  of  Christianity  and  the 
church  ;  for  as  to  single  corrupted  elements  of  Christianity, 
these  may  be  found  even  in  Mauicheism  and  Mohammed 
anism.  ,  Xor  has  it  exerted  the  slightest  influence  on  the 
general  character  and  religious  life  of  the  American 
people,  but  has  rather  been  repelled  by  it,  even  by  force, 
as  an  element  altogether  foreign  and  infernal.  Besides,  I 
fear  I  can  say  nothing  at  all  satisfactory  about  this  pheno 
menon,  owing  to  want  of  accurate  knowledge  from  the  pro 
per  sources  on  our  own  part,  and  to  the  general  immaturity 
of  the  phenomenon  itself.  But  by  such  silence  I  should 
disappoint  expectations.  For  concerning  nothing  have  I 
been  more  frequently  asked  in  Germany,  than  concerning 
the  primeval  forests  and  the  Mormons — the  oldest  and 
the  newest  products  of  America — as  if  it  had  nothing  of 
greater  interest  and  importance  than  these. 

Unquestionably  a  remarkable  appearance  in  the  history 
of  the  religious  vagrancy  of  the  human  mind  is  this  Mor- 


244    "  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AND    SECTS. 

monism.  And  the  most  remarkable  thing  about  it  is 
perhaps  the  fact,  that  this  worst  product  of  America 
should  so  rapidly  spread  in  old  experienced  Europe,  and 
seem  to  elicit,  even  in  cultivated  Germany,  much  more 
curiosity  and  interest,  than  the  most  important  political 
and  ecclesiastical  matters  in  the  Xew  World.  Something 
similar  is  true  of  table-turning  and  spirit-rapping.  If 
America  is  so  prolific  of  all  sorts  of  "  humbugs,"  Europe 
has  the  honor  of  immediately  imitating  them. 

The  principal  points  in  the  external  history  of  this  sect 
are  these  : — The  Book  of  Mormon,  the  last  prophet  of  the 
Indians,  was  miraculously  discovered,  it  is  pretended,  near 
Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  written  on  golden  plates,  abounding  in 
Scripture  passages  and  gross  grammatical  errors,  and  con 
sisting  of  a  very -tedious  romance  about  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel  driven  away  to  America  and  converted  by  Christ 
in  person.  The  discoverer,  Joe  Smith,  an  uneducated 
but  cunning  Yankee,  was  assisted  by  an  angel  to  trans 
late  into  English  and  publish  this  new  bible,  the  original 
of  which,  full  of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  has  since  disap 
peared.*  He  was  ordained  to  the  "  Melchisedekian 
priesthood,"  and  made  an  effort,  at  first  not  very  success- 

*  He  furnished  himself  a  history  of  his  life  and  sect,  for  Rupp's  work  on  the 
Denominations  of  the  U.  S.,  which  begins  in  the  following  characteristic  man 
ner  :  "  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  was  founded  upon 
direct  revelation,  as  the  true  church  of  God  has  ever  been,  according  to  the 
Scriptures  (Amos  iii.  7,  and  Acts  i.  2).  And  through  the  w.'ll  and  blessing  of 
God  I  have  been  an  instrument  in  his  hands,  thus  far,  to  move  forward  the 
cause  of  Zion.  Therefore,  in  order  to  fulfill  the  solicitation  of  your  letter  of 
July  last,  I  shall  commence  with  my  life.  I  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sharon, 
Windsor  County,  Vermont,  on  the  23d  of  Dec.,  A.D.,  1805.  When  ten  years  old, 
my  parents  removed  to  Palmyra,  New-York,"  etc. 


THE    MORMONS.  245 

ful,  to  gather  from  the  corrupt  Babel  of  nominal  Christen 
dom,  on  the  basis  of  this  new  revelation,  a  distinct  sect, 
styled  :— The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints, 
and  to  prepare  them  for  the  approaching  return  of  Christ, 
(  A!D.,  1830  ).  This  sect  moved  to  the  states  of  Ohio 
and  Missouri  ;  and  not  thriving  there,  and  encountering 
violent  persecution,  they  went  to  Illinois,  where  they  built 
a  city  and  a  splendid  temple  at  Nauvoo  on  the  bank  of 
the  Mississippi,  in  1839.  There  they  were  attacked  by 
a  violent  outbreak  of  popular  indignation  against  them, 
as  a  gang  of  shameless  impostors  and  robbers  ;  their 
temple  was  destroyed,  and  their  prophet  Joe  Smith,  since 
venerated  by  his  successors  as  a  holy  martyr,  was  killed, 
(A.D.,  1844).  The  remnant  of  the  Mormons  then  made 
a  toilsome  pilgrimage  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  surrounded  by  high  mountains,  in  the 
fertile  and  mineral  territory  of  Utah,  on  the  overland 
route  to  California  (A.D.,  1846).  There  they  founded 
the  city  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  also  called  the  City  of 
the  Desert  ;  a  second  Solomon's  Temple,  which,  when 
finished,  is  intended  to  surpass  everything  the  world  has 
yet  seen  in  this  line  ;  and  a  theocratic  community  under 
the  direction  of  the  inspired  prophet  and  priest-king,  Brig- 
ham  Young.  In  this  remote  high-land  of  the  Far  West, 
almost  cut  off  from  all  communication,  they  have  made 
rapid  material  progress.  They  have  sent  missionaries 
into  almost  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  have  successfully 
propagated  themselves  in  England  (especially  in  Wales, 
where  they  are  said  to  have  made  thousands  of  converts), 


246        THE  SEVERAL  CHURCHES  AND  SECTS. 

as  well  as  in  Denmark  and  Norway.  Thus,  almost  like  a 
second  edition  of  Mohammedanism,  has  this  sect  risen  in 
the  extreme  West,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  world  ;  and 
just  at  the  time,  too,  when  the  old  Mohammedanism  in 
the  East  is  decaying  and  lying  as  a  carcass,  around  which 
the  Russian,  French,  and  English  eagles  are  gathering 
together. 

Their  crisis,  however,  is  yet  to  come,  when  they  shall 
have  reached  the  lawful  number  of  sixty  thousand  (they 
now  number  perhaps  half  this  at  Salt  Lake),  and  Utah, 
one  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  shall  come  to 
be  erected  into  an  independent  state.  They  may  possibly 
give  Congress  great  trouble,  and  require  its  armed  inter 
ference.  For  it  is  very  questionable,  whether  it  will 
admit  into  its  confederacy  a  state  on  such  a  theocratic 
and  despotic  basis,  and  with  such  moral  or  rather  immoral 
principles  and  institutions.  American  toleration,  as  we  have 
before  remarked,  has  its  limits  ;  the  separation  of  church 
and  state  by  no  means  involves  a  separation  of  the  nation 
from  Christianity  and  Christian  morality.  The  uncommon 
regard  of  the  American  people  for  the  female  sex  abso 
lutely  requires  monogamy  ;  and  for  this  reason  alone  they 
can  never  make  terms  with  the  Mormons.  Their  mis 
sionaries  in  Europe,  it  is  said,  indeed,  commonly  deny 
polygamy  ;  but  in  the  United  States  it  is  universally 
believed,  that  they  practice  it  ;  and  it  has  been  recently 
stated  in  many  journals,  that  their  governor,  Young,  the 
successor  of  Smith,  appeared  in  public  with  thirty  wives, 
sixteen  of  whom  had  children  at  the  breast.  This  wjould 


THE  MORMONS.  247 

make  the  system  a  much  enlarged  and  improved  edition 
of  Mohammedanism,  with  the  best  prospect  of  a  numerous 
posterity.  But,  though  this  fact  be  not  credited,  we 
must  still  believe  the  American  captain  and  engineer, 
Starisbury,  who  in  his  aecouut  of  his  expedition  to  the 
Salt  Lake,  states  that  he  himself  heard  Governor  Young 
say  in  the  church,  he  had  a  right  to  take  a  thousand 
wives,  if  he  thought  good  ;  and  he  challenged  any  one  to 
contradict  him  from  the  Bible.  The  professed  religious 
motive  for  polygamy  is  chiefly  to  raise  up  as  fast  as 
possible  a  "  holy  generation  for  the  Lord." 

Thus  much  is  certain,  that  the  Mormons  and  the 
Americans,  or  the  proper  people  of  the  United  States,  do 
not  fifrtogether,  but  have  a  deadly  hatred  of  each  other. 
Hence  the  former,  persecuted  and  driven  away  by  their 
own  countrymen,  have  tried  their  fortune  in  the  Old 
World  ;  and  have  already  enticed  hundreds  and  thousands 
to  travel  over  sea  and  land  to  their  New  Zion  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  near  the  gold  country  of  California  ; 
where  a  Mormon,  in  1848,  first  discovered  gold-dust  in  a 
brook.  Declamations  against  their  actual  and  supposed 
corruption  of  Christianity,  and  their  high  claims  of  new 
revelations  and  visions,  always  find  ready  access  with 
a  certain  class.  But  at  the  same  time  the  Mormons 
appeal  to  the  spirit  of  emigration  so  widely  diffused,  and 
meet  it  with  the  most  flattering  promises.  Their  emigrant 
ships  are  said  to  be  very  cleanly,  and  in  general  excellently 
furnished.  They  have  a  special  emigrant  fund,  to  which 
every  member  is  bound  to  contribute,  to  provide  for  the 


248  THE    SEVERAL    CHURCHES    AXD    SECTS. 

removal  of  indigent  converts.  They  are  even  seriously 
thinking  of  opening  an  easier  passage  to  the  "  State  of  the 
West,'7  from  the  isthmus  of  Panama. 

Mormonism,  as  a  system  of  religion,  strikingly  resembles 
Irvingism.  The  Irvingites,  in  fact,  see  in  it  a  diabolical 
caricature  of  their  own  figure  ;  as  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  thought  the  striking  resemblances  of  some 
heathen  religions  of  the  East  to  the  doctrines  and  usages 
of  their  church  could  be  accounted  for  only  as  satanic 
imitations.  Mormonism  and  Irvinigism  are  about  con 
temporaneous  in  origin  with  each  other  and  with  Puseyism. 
Both  look  for  the  speedy  return  of  Christ,  and  make  it  a 
leading  object  of  faith  and  hope.  Both  consider  all 
present  Christendom,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  an 
apostate  and  hopeless  Babel  ;  only  Irvingism  is  much 
more  moderate  and  cautious  on  this  point,  having  a  high 
regard  for  church  antiquity,  and  really  seeking  to  combine 
the  truth  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism.  Both  believe, 
that  the  only  remedy  is  to  be  found  in  a  direct  revelation 
and  a  supernatural  new  creation  j  nay,  in  a  divine  restora 
tion  of  all  the  offices  and  miraculous  powers  of  the 
apostolic  church.  Both  have  a  hierarchy  modelled  on  the 
apostolic  constitution,  with  apostles,  prophets,  and 
evangelists.  Both  lay  claim  to  the  gift  of  tongues,  pro 
phecy,  and  the  power  of  miraculous  healing  by  prayer  and 
laying  on  of  hands  ;  and  indeed  the  Irvingites  are  inclined, 
with  their  rivals,  to  admit  the  agency  of  supernatural 
powers,  but  refer  them  to  a  satanic  origin.  Both  regard 
the  Jewish  tithe-paying  as  a  sacred  Christian  duty. 


THE   MORMONS.  249 

Both  send  into  all  the  world,  where  they  are  allowed 
access,  apostles  and  evangelists  to  collect  the  "latter-day 
saints"  into  the  true  Zion,  and  to  prepare  for  receiving 
the  Lord  in  his  glory. 

But  the  Mormons  lack  the  solemn  liturgical  worship  of 
the  Irvingites  ;  and  above  all  the  fine  culture,  the  deep 
moral  and  religious  earnestness,  the  humility  and  mildness, 
the  honest  effort  after  holiness,  and  the  Christian  loveliness, 
for  which  the  Irviugites,  so  far  as  I  personally  know,  and 
can  gather  from  the  writings  of  Carlyie,  Thiersch,  Bohrn, 
Rothe,  and  others,  are  highly  distinguished,  and  by  which 
they  prove  themselves  true  disciples  and  followers  of  Jesus, 
in  spite  of  all  their  singular  views.  Kay,  if  only  the  half 
be  true  of  what  is  reported  in  the  public  prints  respecting 
the  horrible  "spiritual-wife  system,"  as  it  is  called,  and 
other  peculiarities  of  the  Mormons,  they  are  on  a  decidedly 
immoral  and  abominable  track  ;  so  that  the  Americans 
cannot  be  particularly  blamed  for  wishing  to  be  rid  of 
such  a  pest.  But  then  the  fact  remains  the  more  striking, 
which  Captain  Stansbury  gives  from  his  own  observation, 
that  among  these  "  Latter-day  Saints  "  peace,  harmony, 
and  happiness  generally  prevail.  It  is  remarkable,  too, 
that  Mormonism  has  had  far  better  outward  success,  than 
Irvingism,  which,  though  less  bold  and  energetic,  is  incom 
parably  higher  and  more  pure  and  earnest  in  an  intel 
lectual  and  moral  point  of  view.  The  Irvingites  have 
only  two  small  congregations  in  America,  so  far  as  I 
know,  in  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and  even  in  England 
and  Germany  they  seem  of  late  to  be  rather  stationary. 

11* 


250  THE    SEVERAL   CHURCHES   AXD    SECTS. 

Thus,  however,  the  tares  often  grow  much  faster  than  the 
wheat  ;  and  error  is  not  seldom  more  popular  than 
truth.  * 

But  I  readily  grant,  that  Morrnonism  is,  to  me,  still 
one  of  the  unsolved  riddles  of  the  modern  history  of 
religion  ;  and  I  therefore  venture  no  final  judgment  upon 
it.  I  must  only  beg,  in  the  name  of  my  adopted  father 
land,  that  you  will  not  judge  America  in  any  way  by  this 
irregular  growth.  She  has  inherited  from  her  mother 
Europe,  and  preserved,  much  that  is  infinitely  better,  and 
will  undoubtedly  produce  in  future  far  worthier  fruits  in 
the  field  of  religious  and  ecclesiastical  life. 

We  need  no  new  sects ;  there  are  already  too  many. 
We  need  no  new  revelation  ;  the  old  is  sufficient.  America, 
to  fulfill  her  mission,  has  only  to  presenj  in  its  unity  and 
beauty  the  old  and  eternally  young  church  of  Christ, 
according  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  nearly  two  thou 
sand  years7  experience  of  Christian  history,  whose  results 
are  there  embodied  in  so  many  denominations  and  sects, 
yet  united  in  a  common  national  life.  Whatever  may  be 
her  immediate  future,  thus  much  is  certain  :  that  there, 
as  everywhere,  the  Lord  rules  supreme  over  the* wisdom 
and  folly  of  men,  and  that  all  kingdoms  must  at  last  bow 
to  him,  "  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going 
down  of  the  same." 


QERMANY    AND     AMERICA 


PART    III. 

GERMANY     AND     AMERICA. 

The  Evangelical  Church  in  Germany  in  its  relation  to  the  Daughter 
Churches  in  America,  and  its  duty  to  the  German  Emigrants. 
Report  of  Prof .  Dr.  Schaff,  of  Mercersburg,  Pennsylvania,  read 
before  the  Seventh  meeting  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church 
Diet,  at  Frankfort  on  the  Maine,  on  the  %Mh  of  September,  1854.  * 

HONORED  FATHERS  AND  BELOVED  BRETHREN  : — 

First  I  present  to  you,  as  the  Representatives  of  the 
German  Evangelical  Churches  of  Europe,  a  benediction 
and  fraternal  salutation  in  the  name  of  the  German  Evange 
lical  Churches  of  America,  which  although  separated  from 
you  by  land  and  sea,  are  yet  flesh  of  your  flesh  and  bone 
of  your  bone  ;  and  as  the  two  hemispheres  are  now  brought 
nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other  through  the  power  of 
steam  and  electricity,  so  she  desires  to  become  more  and 
more  closely  united  to  you  through  the  deeper  power  of 
faith  and  love. 


*  This  address,  as  printed  in  the  official  report  of  the  Frankfort  Church  Diet 
was  translated  from  the  German,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  Thomas  C.  Porter,  of  Frank 
lin  and  Marshall  College,  Lancaster,  Penn.,  for  the  "  New  York  Observer."  It 
is  here  added  as  a  third  part,  although  it  was  not  included  in  the  author's  book  on 
America. 


254  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

Thousands  of  evangelical  Christians  in  the  New  World, 
who  still  revere  and  love  Germany  as  their  natural  and 
spiritual  birth-place,  and  take  the  most  heartfelt  interest 
in  the  struggles  and  victories  of  the  mother-church,  hailed 
also  with  delight  the  rise  of  the  Geman  Church  Diet  in 
the  year  of  1848,  as  a  bow  of  peace  and  promise,  after 
the  storms  of  the  Revolution,  and  as  the  dawning  light  of 
a  new  day  to  German  Christendom.  They  saw  in  it  the 
fruit  of  the  free  pastoral  conferences,  a  beginning  toward 
the  concentration  and  consolidation  of  the  noblest  powers 
of  .the  German  Churches  of  the  Reformation,  a  mighty 
engine  for  moral  improvement,  a  living  embodiment  of 
"  Inner  Missions,"  a  noble  evangelist  for  the  suggestion 
and  furtherance  of  every  good  work.  With  the  liveliest 
sympathy  they  followed  its  annual  meetings  from  Witten 
berg  to  Stuttgart,  Elberfeld,  and  Berlin,  were  edified  by 
the  beautiful  evidences  of  faith  in  the  most  sterling  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Evangelical  theology  and  piety  from  all 
parts  of  Germany  ;  admired  the  remarkable  unanimity 
and  lofty  enthusiasm,  with  which,  in  the  year  1853,  it 
replanted  the  standard  of  the  venerable  Augustana 
against  infidelity  and  superstition  in  the  city  of  Frederick 
II.  and  Nicolai,  and  hoped  for  the  most  complete  success 
|n  its  great  work  of  a  thorough  inward  regeneration  of 
German  Protestantism.  And  even  at  this  hour,  when 
you  are  holding  your  seventh  session  in  the  old  imperial 
city,  so  renowned  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  innumerable 
prayers  on  your  behalf  are  ascending  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  that  the  humiliating  scenes  of  the 


GERMANY   AND   AMERICA.  255 

Frankfort  Parliament  may  not  be  repeated  in  the  Frank 
fort  Church  Diet,  but  that  a  stream  of  blessing  may  issue 
thence,  flow  over  all  Germany,  and  even  reach  the  far- 
off  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  and  that  a  deep  foundation 
may  be  laid  for  spiritual  unity  and  moral  freedom,  till  the 
Lord  himself,  beyond  our  prayers  and  comprehension, 
shall  crown  our  defective  endeavors  after  union  and  con 
federation  with  the  perfect  exhibition  of  one  flock, 
gathered  out  of  all  lands,  nations  and  confessions  under 
Him,  the  one  Shepherd. 

The  Church  Diet,  on  its  side,  has  not  forgotten  its  kin 
dred  in  foreign  countries  and  its  large  heart  and  true  tact 
appear  in  this,  that  at  Bremen  it  admitted  into  the  com 
pass  of  its  transactions  the  German  emigration,  and  at  Ber 
lin  the  dispersions  of  Germans  in  Europe,  as  an  important 
department  of  Inner  Missions.  'Hence  it  was  very  natu 
ral  to  take  into  view  the  much  greater  dispersions  of  Ger 
mans  in  America  and  the  entire  relation  of  the  German 
Evangelical  mother-church  to  her  American  Daughter. 

This  is  the  theme  which  the  central  committee  of  the 
"  Congress  of  Inner  Missions,"  handed  over  to  me  for  an 
introductory  report.  Permit  me,  therefore,  to  direct  your 
attention  to  the  following  three  points  : 

1.  The    significance   of  America  in   general  for  the 
development  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

2.  The  position  and  work  of  the  German  Evangelical 
Church  in  America. 

3.  The  duty  of  the  mother-church  in  Europe  to  her 
American-German  Daughter. 

In  so  doing,  I  will  consider  the  German  Church  of 


256  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA. 

America  as  a  whole,  embracing  all  the  denominations,  which 
the  reformatory  confessional  basis  of  the  Church  Diet 
marks  out  ;  and  I  can  do  this  the  rather,  because  I  was 
ordained  in  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Prussia,  and  in 
January,  1848,  the  year  in  which  the  Diet  took  its  rise, 
established  a  periodical,  the  "  German  Church-Friend,"  as 
a  "central  organ  for  the  common  interests  of  the  Lu 
theran  Reformed  and  "United  Confessions,  and  the  Mora 
vian  Brotherhood,"  the  very  same  communions  represen- 
tedthis  assembly. 

I.  The,  significance  of  North  America  for  the.  future 
development  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  United  States  of  North  America — whose  citizens 
are  called  Americans  in  an  emphatic  sense — because  the 
bearers  of  the  historical  life  and  progress  of  the  whole 
Western  Hemisphere — are  a  wonder  in  the  annals  of  the 
human  race.  Their  development,  in  its  rapidity  and  gigan 
tic  proportions,  far  outstrip  all  former  experience,  and 
their  significance  for  the  future  mocks  the  boldest  calcu 
lation.  Though  not  an  hundred  years  old,  they  have 
become  already,  by  natural  force  of  expansion,  one  of  the 
mightiest  empires  of  the  civilized  world,  with  the  control 
of  one  entire  continent  and  two  oceans,  and  spread,  in  the 
most  peaceful  manner,  the  meshes  of  their  influence  over 
Europe,  Asia  and  Africa.  And  yet  their  history  up  to 
this  time  is  only  a  faint  prelude  of  what  is  to  come,  and 
the  Americans  of  the  twentieth  century  will  look  upon 
the  present  age  of  their  country,  with  feelings  akin  to 


GERMANY  AXD  AMERICA.  257 

those  with  which  modern  Europeans  regard  the  exodus 
of  the  threshold  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  "  Young 
Giant,"  has  not  yet,  so  to  speak,  sown  all  his  wild  oats, 
and  along  with  many  heroic  deeds,  commits  also  some 
wanton  and  extravagant  pranks,  which  prove,  however, 
the  exuberant  vigor  of  his  youthful  powers.  Providence, 
who  creates  nothing  in  vain,  has  there  made  physical  pre 
parations  on  the  grandest  scale,  and  formed  an  immea 
surable  territory,  containing  the  most  fruitful  soil,  the 
most  valuable  mineral  treasures  and  the  most  favorable 
means  of  commercial  intercourse,  as  a  tempting  asylum 
for  all  European  nations,  churches  and  sects,  who,  there 
freed  from  the  fetters  of  antiquated  institutions,  amid  cir 
cumstances  and  conditions  altogether  new,  and  with  reno 
vated  energies,  swarm,  and  jostle  each  other,  and  yet,  in 
an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  are  moulded  by  the 
process  into  one  powerful  nationality.  Whilst  Europe 
had  first  to  work  her  way  up  out  of  heathen-barbarism, 
America,  without  earning  it,  has  appropriated  the  civili 
zation  and  church-history  of  two  thousand  years,  as  an 
inheritance,  and  already  put  out  at  the  highest  rate  of 
interest  for  the  benefit  of  after  generations. 

For,  these  Americans  have  not  the  least  desire  to  rest 
on  the  laurels  of  the  past  and  comfortably  enjoy  the 
present ;  they  are  full  of  ambition  and  national  pride,  and 
firmly  resolved  to  soar  above  the  Old  World.  They  are 
a  people  of  the  boldest  enterprise  and  untiring  progress 
—Restlessness  and  Agitation  personified.  Even  when 
seated,  they  push  themselves  to  and  fro  on  their  rocking- 


258  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

chairs  ;  they  live  in  a  state  of  perpetual  excitement  in 
their  business,  their  politics  and  their  religion,  and  remind 
one  of  the  storm-lashed  sea,  which  here 

"  Seethes  and  bubbles  and  hisses  and  roars, 

As  when  fire  with  water  is  commixed  and  contending  " 

" it  never  will  rest,  nor  from  travail  be  free, 

Like  a  sea  that  is  laboring  the  birth  of  a  sea." 

They  are  excellently  characterized  by  the  expressions, 
"Help  yourself"  and  "  Go  ahead,"  which  are  never  out 
of  their  mouths.  It  is  also  a  very  significant  fact,  that 
they  have  invented  the  magnetic  telegraph,  or  at  least 
perfected  it,  and  are  far  advanced  in  the  useful  arts. 
For  there  the  car  of  the  world's  history  moves  swifter  on 
the  pinions -of  steam  and  electricity,  and  "  the  days  become 
shortened." 

The  grandest  destiny  is  evidently  reserved  for  such  a 
people.  We  can  and  must,  it  is  true,  find  fault  with  many 
things  in  them  and  their  institutions — slavery,  the  lust  of 
conquest,  the  worship  of  Mammon,  the  rage  for  specula 
tion,  political  and  religious  fanaticism  and  party-spirit, 
boundless  temerity,  boasting,  quackery,  and — to  use  the 
American  word  for  it — humbug,  as  well  as  other  weak 
nesses  and  dangers,  that  are  moreover  wanting  to  no 
country  in  Europe.  But  we  must  not  overlook  the  healthy, 
vital  energies,  that  continually  re-act  against  these 
diseases :  the  moral,  yea  Puritanical  earnestness  of  the 
American  character,  its  patriotism  and  noble  love  of 
liberty  in  connection  with  deep-rooted  reverence  for  the 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  259 

law  of  Grod  and  authority,  its  clear,  practical  under 
standing,  its  talent  for  organization,  its  inclination  for 
improvement  in  every  sphere,  its  fresh  enthusiasm  for 
great  plans  and  schemes  of  moral  reform,  and  its  willingness 
to  make  sacrifices  for  the  promotion  of  God's  kingdom 
and  every  good  work.  The  acquisition  of  riches  is  to 
them  only  a  help  toward  higher  spiritual  and  moral  ends  ; 
the  gain  derived  from  the  inexhaustible  physical  resources 
of  their  glorious  country  only  the  material  ground-work 
toward  the  furtherance  of  civilization.  They  wrestle 
with  the  most  colossal  projects.  The  deepest  meaning 
and  aim  of  their  political  institutions  are  to  actualize  the 
idea  of  universal  sovereignty,  the  education  of  every 
individual  for  intellectual  and  moral  self-government  and 
thus  for  true  freedom.  They  wish  to  make  culture,  which 
in  Europe  is  everywhere  aristocratic  and  confined  to  a 
comparatively  small  portion  of  society,  the  common  pro 
perty  of  the  people,  and  train  up  if  possible  every  youth 
as  a  gentleman  and  every  girl  as  a  lady  ;  and  in  the  six 
States  of  New  England  at  least,  they  have  attained  this 
object  in  a  higher  degree  than  any  country  in  the  Old 
World,  England  and  Scotland  not  even  excepted. 

In  short,  if  anywhere  in  the  wide  world  a  new  page  of 
universal  history  has  been  unfolded  and  a  new  fountain 
opened,  fraught  with  incalculable  curses  or  blessings  for 
future  generations,  it  is  in  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States  with  her  starspangled  banner.  Either  humanity 
has  no  earthly  future  and  everything  is  tending  to  destruc 
tion,  or  this  future  lies — I  say  not  exclusively,  but  mainly 


260  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

— in  America,  according  to  the  victorious  march  of  history, 
with  the  sun  from  east  to  west. 

"But  America  has  also  equally  as  great  a  prospective 
significance  and  mission  for  the  internal  and  external 

O 

development  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  history  of  the 
world  is  only  the  vestibule  to  the  history  of  the  church, 
the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  preparing  the 
way  for  Him,  who  shall  come.  All  political  events  and 
revolutions,  all  discoveries  and  inventions,  all  advances  in 
art  and  science  ;  in  fine,  all  that  belongs  to  the  kingdom 
of  the  Father  and  is  under  the  guidance  of  his  general 
providence,  must  serve  the  Son  and  spread  abroad  his 
name,  until  the  whole  world  is  filled  with  his  glory,  and 
all  nations  walk  in  the  light  of  eternal  truth  and  love. 
For  the  Father  draws  all  men  to  the  Son,  and  "  they  shall 
honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father." 

American  church-history  is  still  in  the  storm-and- 
pressure-period.  Its  roots,  with  all  their  living  fibres, 
are  in  Europe,  especially  in  England.  It  draws  its  life 
from  the  past,  most  of  all  from  the  conquests  of  the 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  principles 
then  established  exert  there  an  enormous  power,  and  find 
the  freest  scope  of  action  and  influence  upon  the  entire 
national  life.  Meanwhile  it  is  all  merely  the  labor  of 
preparation,  the  heaping  up  of  materials  and  plans,  the 
chaotic  fermentation  that  precedes  the  act  of  creation. 
But  the  prolegomena  are  laid  out  on  the  most  com 
prehensive  scale  ;  the  cosmos  lies  in  the  chaos,  as  man  in 
embryo,  and  He  who  in  the  beginning  said :  "  Let  there 


GERMANY   AND  *  AMERICA.  261 

be  light  !"  lives  and  rules  with  his  Divine  Spirit,  brooding 
over  the  ecclesiastical  Thohuvavohu  of  the  New  World. 

The  history  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  America  has 
already  entered  upon  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  and  will 
unfold  itself,  under  circumstances  and  conditions  altogether 
peculiar,  not  indeed  beyond  Christ — for  He  is  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  church-history,  and  before  Him  the  Ameri 
cans  bow  with  the  deepest  reverence  as  before  the  highest 
and  holiest  name  in  the  universe — but  beyond  all  that  has 
hitherto  existed  in  the  ecclesiasticism  of  Europe.  I  can 
only  touch  briefly  upon  the  new  circumstances  and  condi 
tions,  which  aid  the  internal  progress  of  the  church.  To 
these  belong  the  Protestant,  or  rather  Puritan  starting- 
point  of  North  American  Christianity,  its  complete  de 
liverance  from  Mediaeval  Catholic  and  feudal  institutions, 
its  independence  of  the  State,  the  universal  religious 
freedom  and  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  meeting  of  all 
European  confessions  and  sects  on  the  basis  of  the 
voluntary  system  and  political  equality.  In  America  the 
most  interesting  experiments  in  church-history  are  now 
made.  There  the  idea  is,  to  found  a  church,  which, 
without  any  direct  support  from  the  government,  and 
having  for  this  very  reason  a  stronger  hold  on  the 
sympathies  of  the  people,  shall  be  the  expression  of  all  their 
untrammeled  convictions,  the  bearer  and  guardian  of  their 
highest  spiritual  and  moral  interests.  There  the  idea  is, 
to  actualize  the  genuine  Protestant  principle  of  a  congre 
gation,  independent  and  yet  bound  to  an  organic  whole, 
in  a  far  greater  degree  than  has  heretofore  been  the  case 
in  the  Old  World  ;  and  to  make  each  Christian  a  priest 


262  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

and  a  king  in  the  service  of  the  universal  High  Priest  and 
King  of  Kings.  There  the  idea  is,  to  settle  the  conflict 
between  the  greatest  diversity  and  essential  unity,  between 
freedom  and  authority  in  religion.  There  the  whole 
controversy  between  Romanism  and  Protestantism  has 
been  taken  up  anew,  and  is  rapidly  drawing  towards  a 
most  earnest,  perhaps  even  a  bloody  issue.  For  North 
America  is  a  land  thoroughly  Protestant,  almost  to  an 
extreme,  since  Protestantism  embraces  not  merely  the 
large  majority  of  the  population,  but  is  the  source,  at  the 
same  time,  of  all  its  social  and  political  principles  ;  in  fine, 
is  interwoven  most  intimately  with  the  entire  national  life, 
and  goes  hand  in  hand  with  all  the  nobler  struggles  after 
freedom  and  ideas  of  progress.  The  public  opinion,  formed 
under  the  influence  of  Puritanism,  regards  Romanism, 
whether  justly  or  unjustly,  as  the  veritable  Antichrist, 
Intolerance  and  Persecution  personified,  a  system  of  the 
most  terrible  spiritual  despotism,  which,  if  successfully 
established,  would  also  annihilate  all  political  freedom  and 
arrest  the  progress  of  history.  Hence  the  more  this 
church  grows — although  its  growth  does  not  keep  pace 
with  the  immigration  from  Ireland,  Germany  and  France, 
so  that  in  fact  much  more  material  is  lost  than  gained  by 
the  transition  to  America — the  more  do  national  jealousy 
and  hatred,  which  have  already  found  vent  in  manifold 
riotous  proceedings,  increase  also.  Here  it  will  be  seen, 
whether  the  Papacy,  under  conditions  and  circumstances 
like  these,  can  maintain  herself  unaltered,  or  whether  she 
will  rush  to  ruin,  or  undergo  a  fundamental  change. 
In  North  America,  moreover,  the  fate  of  the  Reforma- 


GERMANY   AND   AMERICA.  263 

tion  is  to  be  decided.  There  Protestantism,  along  with 
its  enormous  vital  energies,  its  devotion  to  liberty,  its 
ability  to  make  sacrifices  and  its  bold  enterprising  spirit, 
exhibits  also  its  faults  and  weaknesses  much  more  plainly 
than  in  Europe,  where  its  free  development  is  still  checked 
by  the  fetters  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  forms  and  regula 
tions,  the  growth  of  ages.  There  it  will  be  seen,  whether 
it,  as  its  enemies  prophecy,  being  left  to  its  centrifugal 
and  unchurchly  tendencies,  will  at  last  break  up  into 
atoms,  and  prepare  a  greater  triumph  for  Catholicism 
than  even  the  victory  over  the  Old  Roman  and  Germanic 
heathenism  ;  or  whether,  as  we  believe  and  hope,  follow 
ing  its  positive  Christian  principles,  with  the  Word  of 
God  in  hand  and  heart,  it  will  come  together,  consolidate, 
concentrate  itself,  and  out  of  the  phoenix-ashes  of  all 
Christian  denominations  and  sects,  rise  glorified,  as  the 
truly  universal,  evangelical  Catholic  Bride  of  the  Lord, 
adorned  with  the  fairest  flowers  of  the  church-history  of 
all  centuries. 

Such  a  mighty  mission  appears  to  lie  before  the  church- 
history  of  the  country,  of  which  we  speak  •  not  indeed 
as  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  in  connection 
with  the  other  Christian  nations,  who  are  brought  nearer 
every  year,  the  barriers  of  space  and  time  being  broken 
down.  To  such  a  mission  even  the  rude  beginnings  of 
their  labor  point,  and  thus  much,  according  to  human 
view,  is  at  all  events  certain,  that  North  America,  along 
with  England  and  Germany,  furnishes  the  most  important 
contributions  toward  solving  the  vast  problems  touching 


264  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

Christ  and  his  Church,  which  now  press  upon  Christendom 
with  a  mighty  weight,  and  which  will  yet  be  determined  to 
the  honor  of  the  God-man  and  Saviour  of  the  world,  and 
His  Bride. 

Not  only  upon  the  internal  development  of  the  Church 
but  also  upon  the  external  spread  of  the  Gospel,  in  all 
heathen  lands,  America,  from  its  geographical  position 
and  by  its  rapidly  increasing  commerce,  must  exert  an 
incalculable  influence.  The  Sandwich  Islands,  that  half 
way  station  upon  the  route  over  the  Pacific  Ocean,  have, 
by  Puritan  missionaries  of  New  England,  been  already 
won  over  to  the  Gospel,  and  will  soon  become  an  integral 
part  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  Republic.  The  ports  of 
Japan  have  been  lately  opened  to  American  trade,  and 
the  various  Missionary,  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  with 
their  fresh,  energetic  powers,  will  certainly  follow  up  this 
advantage  at  the  earliest  favorable  opportunity.  The 
railroad  and  canal,  soon  to  be  made  over  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  indicate,  that  the  whole  commerce  between 
Europe  and  Further  Asia,  as  well  as  the  Missionary 
operations,  for  which  it  has  thus  providentially  furnished 
a  path,  will,  in  a  short  time,  take  up  their  march  through 
America,  as  the  real  centre  of  the  world.  Already  a 
direct  line  of  steam  ships  between  San  Francisco  and 
Canton  has  been  projected,  and  through  this  channel, 
Christianizing  and  civilizing  influences  beyond  number 
will  stream  towards  China  ;  and  already  these  Divine 
preparations  are  met,  without  their  knowledge  or  wish, 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  "Celestial  Empire "  crowding 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  265 

\yy  thousands  into  California,  who,  lured  thither  by  gold 
and  the  high  wages  of  labor,  will  yet  find  there  and  carry 
back  to  their  native  land,  where  just  now  events  occur 
that  will  fill  the  whole  .world  with  astonishment,  something 
infinitely  better  than  all  the  treasure  of  the  Sacramento, 
the  precious  pearl  of  the  Gospel.  For  the  Colossus  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty  millions,  after  a  long  stagnation, 
amid  dim  forebodings  of  what  should  come,  has  at  last 
set  itself  in  motion,  and  rolls,  like  a  tremendous  avalanche 
of  nations,  toward  a  speedy  political  revolution,  which, 
in  the  end,  must  certainly  pave  the  way  for  a  much  more 
important  one,  in  the  sphere  of  the  Spirit. 

Similar  stars  of  hope  for  the  approaching  triumph  of 
the  peaceful  kingdom  of  Christ  have  risen  above  the  Afri 
can  horizon.  In  the  negro  colony  of  Liberia,  founded  by 
American  philanthropists,  we  not  only  see  the  first  step 
toward  the  solution  of 'the  fearful  riddle  of  negro-slavery, 
but  the  dawn  also  of  a  new  day  for  the  dark  night  of 
Africa,  which  will  be  yet  conquered  for  the  Gospel  and 
civilization  by  her  own  sons  and  daughters,  exported  as 
rude  heathen  and  now  returning  as  Christian  men  and 
women. 

But  finally,  North  America  will  also  take  part  in  Inner 
Missions  among  the  nominal  Christians  of  the  Old  World, 
n  order  to  restore  the  candlestick  of  the  pure  Word  of  God, 
where  it  has  keen  obscured,  or  thrust  aside,  by  various 
human  ordinances  and  inventions.  If  Mexico,  with  its 
boundless  sources  of  wealth,  is  ever  to  be  delivered  from 
the  fetters  of  Romish  ignorance  and  superstition,  and 

12 


266  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

raised  out  of  the  whirlpool  of  an  eternal  revolution  to  a 
state  of  rational  freedom  and  order  ;  if  "  the  pearl  of 
the  Antilles"  is  yet  to  be  transformed  into  a  pearl  in  the 
diadem  of  the  Evangelical  Church  and  become  an  intellec 
tual  and  spiritual  paradise, — then  it  is  evident,  that  this 
must  be  accomplished  chiefly  by  the  nationality  and  Pro 
testantism  of  the  United  States.  It  is  known,  moreover, 
that  the  Americans  have  already  established  flourishing 
missions  among  the  schismatical  sects  of  the  Greek 
Church  ;  especially  among  the  Armenians  in  European 
and  Asiatic  Turkey,  and  that  they  afford  aid  to  the 
modern  movements  of  the  Waldenses  in  Piedmont,  and  to 
the  Evangelical  Societies  of  Geneva  and  Paris  in  the  work 
of  evangelizing  France  and  Italy.  Through  their  politi 
cal  and  religious  institutions  and  their  new-born  literature 

I  need  only  remind  you  of  the  fact,  that  the  book, 
which  has  been  most  read  during  the  last  few  years,  is  a 
religious  novel,  written  by  a  New  England  lady,  the 
daughter  of  a  preacher  and  the  wife  of  a  professor — the 
United  States  exert  already  a  very  considerable  influence, 
partly  destructive,  but  partly  regenerative  also,  on  public 
opinion  in  England,  Germany  and  France  ;  an  influence 
which  must  increase  every  year  either  as  a  curse  or  a 
blessing  to  old  mother  Europe. 

I  do  not  say  all  this  in  vain-glorious  laudation  of  Ame 
rica,  still  less  of  the  Americans,  who,  as  men  and  Chris 
tians,  are  not  one  whit  better  than  their  European  fore 
fathers.  Their  vast  mission  and  significance  in  the  future 
history  of  the  Church  and  the  world  can  just  as  little  be 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  267 

ascribed  to  any  special  merit  on  their  part,  as  the  choice 
of  the  people  of  Israel,  who,  in  spite  of  their  stubborn 
ness  and  ingratitude,  were  called  to  be  the  bearers  of  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  the  stock  from  whence  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  should  spring.  There  is  the  hidden 
purpose  of  God,  alike  in  both  cases,  and  each  time  bound 
to  a  corresponding  measure  of  enormous  responsibility. 

And  just  as  little  do  I  wish  to  depreciate  Europe  and 
the  Europeans  by  the  above  remarks.  For  America  is 
indeed  the  daughter  of  Europe  and  operates  with  Euro 
pean  forces,  of  which  a  fuller  stream  flows  thither  every 
year.  And  the  signs  of  the  times  appear  to  indicate,  that, 
as  the  powers  of  darkness  deepen  and  concentrate,  so 
likewise  all  the  positive  elements  of  Christendom,  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  should  draw  nearer,  and  become  more 
closely  joined  together,  so  that  they  may  achieve  a  more 
certain  victory  in  the  last  decisive  conflict.  America  and 
Europe  ought  to  understand  more  clearly,  prize  more 
highly,  and  seek  to  know  and  love  each  other  more  fully 
in  the  common  service  of  the  one  Lord,  to  whom  all  the 
parts  of  the  globe  belong,  and  must  at  last  submit  in  free, 
blessed  obedience. 

II.  The  position  and  work  of  the  German  Evangelical 
Church  in  America. 

Into  this  American  chaos  of  nations,  creeds  and  sects 
big  with  the  destinies  of  the  future,  the  German  element 
was  cast,  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  like  leaven 


268  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

into  a  process  of  formation,  out  of  which  will  grow  a  uni 
versal  church-cosmos.  Next  to  the  English,  'which  is 
plainly  the  original  stock  of  the  North  American  nation, 
it  is  the  strongest  in  numbers  and  much  more  .important 
than  the  Spanish,  the  Dutch,  the  French,  or  even  the 
Irish  element.  The  number  of  Germans  in  the  United 
States,  including  their  English  descendants,  is  computed 
at  four  millions,  constituting  thus  almost  the  sixth  part 
of  the  collective  population.  And  in  this  we  find  nearly 
all  the  races  and  religious  denominations  of  our  tongue 
represented :  the  Lutheran  Reformed  and  United  Confes 
sions,  the  Moravian  fraternity,  the  older  sects  of  German 
Protestantism,  along  with  several  new  ones,  which  have 
sprung  up  there,  mostly  of  a  Methodistical  order  ;  but, 
at  the  same  time  also,  the  very  worst  forces  of  irreligion 
and  infidelity,  which,  as  far  as  their  influence  extends, 
cover  the  German  name  in  the  New  World  with  shame 
and  disgrace,  and,  next  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Irish,  give 
the  most  nourishment  to  that  bitter  hatred  of  foreigners, 
which  characterizes  a  strong  American  party,  the  Native 
Americans,  or  as  they  now  call  themselves,  the  Know- 
No  things. 

This  German- American  population  will  become  stronger 
every  year,  by  an  emigration,  which  has  almost  swollen  to 
a  national  exodus.  I  will  refer  to  but  one  fact,  that  in 
the  year  1852,  in  the  single  port  of  New  York,  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  Germans  landed  ;  the  next  year,  one  hundred  and 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  269 

nineteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  and  that 
this  year  the  number  will  greatly  increase  ;*  for  the 
German  Society  of  that  city  mentions  the  arrival  of  thirty- 
two  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-nine  for  the  month 
of  May  alone.  Like  a  contagious  fever,  the  rage  for 
emigration  spreads  through  all  parts  of  Germany  and  all 
the  Cantons  of  Switzerland.  Agencies  for  emigrants  are 
to  be  met  with  in  every  city,  works  in  every  book-store, 
and  advertisements  in  every  newspaper  ;  and  the  name 
of  America  has  now  become  as  familiar  to  every  German 
peasant  and  laborer,  yea  to  every  child  in  the  street,  as 
that  of  the  nearest  neighboring  country,  whilst  to  thou 
sands  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  it  is  the  goal  of  their 
warmest  wishes  and  boldest  hopes.  In  all  probability, 
this  movement  from  the  East  to  the  West  will  rather 
increase  than  slacken  for  many  years  to  come,  as  long 
indeed  as  its  causes  and  incentives  continue,  which  are 
the  diminishing  prospect  of  obtaining  a  livelihood  or 
wealth  in  Germany  with  its  superabundant  -population, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  brightening  promise  of 
material  prosperity  in  America,  together  with  the  fact 
that  the  passage  thither  and  settlement  there,  are  be 
coming  easier  from  year  to  year.  No  power  on  earth  is 
able  to  check  this  movement,  because  a  law  of  historical 
development  and  the  will  of  Providence  are  thereby  fulfilled. 
This  emigration  has  two  sides.  For  Germany,  under 
present  circumstances,  it  is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  in 

*  The  German  emigration  to  the  port  of  New  York  alone  amounted  for  1854, 
to  170,648. 


270  GERMANY  AXD  AMERICA. 

general  a  blessing,  a  relief  from  an  excess  of  population 
with  whose  growth  the  products  of  the  earth  and  the 
means  of  living  cannot  keep  pace  ;  a  beneficial  letting  of 
blood  and  a  drain  for  poverty  as  well  as  political  and 
religious  disaffection.  At  the  same  time,  it  opens  new 
markets  for  German  industry,  so  that  the  loss  from  money 
carried  out  of  the  country  is  amply  repaired  by  the 
amounts,  which  are  ultimately  returned.  But  for  America, 
this  phenomenon  has  the  same  significance,  as  the  emigra 
tion  of  the  Celtic,  Germanic  and  Sclavonic  races  from 
Asia  to  Europe,  the  Greeks  into  the  West,  and  the 
dispersion  of  the  Jews  into  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Emigrants,  in  general,  are  the  pioneers  of  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  history,  the  scions  of  civilization  grafted 
upon  a  wild  stock  in  its  luxuriant  vigor. 

Since,  then,  Providence  has  imparted  to  the  German 
people  so  great  an  impulse  toward  emigration,  and  directed 
it  principally  to  the  United  States,  he  must  have  designed 
for  them  a  mission  in  the  Xew  World  answering  to  their 
cosmopolitan  character.  That  the  Germans,  by  their 
industry,  perseverance  and  skill,  can  aid  and  have  aided 
very  largely  in  rendering  the  inexhaustible  natural 
resources  of  that  country  available,  and  furthering  its 
material  prosperity,  is  clearly  visible  and  generally 
acknowledged.  But  this  must  serve  only  as  means  for 
the  solution  of  a  spiritual  and  moral  religious  problem, 
which  is  incomparably  higher  and  more  important. 

This  higher  problem  consists  in  preserving,  applying, 
independently  unfolding  and  elaborating  the  peculiar  gifts 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  271 

of  the  'German  mind  and  spirit  as  well  as  German  theology 
and  piety,  partly  for  their  own  wants  and  partly  for  the 
advancement  and  modification  of  the  entire  process  of 
development  in  Anglo-American  Christianity  and  its 
Churches.  The  design  is,  to  transplant  the  treasures  of 
Gorman  literature,  the  results  of  thorough  investigation 
in  the  departments  of  exegesis,  church-history,  dogmatics 
and  ethics,  which  the  most  distinguished  English  scholars 
are  learning  to  prize  more  and  more,  into  the  fruitful  soil 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  ;  the  design  is,  to  impart  to 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  thereby  complete  it,  a  spirit  of 
depth  and  inwardness,  a  tendency  towards  the  ideal  and 
eternal,  a  disposition  to  dig  and  burrow  into  principles, 
an  enthusiastic  love  for  truth  and  knowledge  for  their 
own  sake,  a  will  to  rank  the  spiritual  far  above  the 
material  interests  ;  in  short,  that  which  makes  up  the 
peculiar  charisma  of  the,  German  nation  and.  Church  in 
their  noblest  representatives  ;  finally,  the  design  is,  to 
deliver  the  German  mind  itself  from  its  own  one-sidedness, 
to  enlarge  and  enrich  it  by  a  living  appropriation  of  the 
great  excellences  of  the  English  character,  and  to  fit  it 
for  new  achievements  in  the  sphere  of  science  and  of  life. 

The  German  nationality,  in  its  pure  form,  bears  a 
similar  relation  to  the  English,  as  the  Old  Greek  to  the 
Old  Roman.  The  former  is  predominantly  idealistic  and 
speculative,  the  latter  realistic  and  practical  ;  the  former 
has  the  deepest  mind,  the  latter  the  strongest  character  ; 
the  former  rules  the  world  in  that  it  fathoms  and  compre 
hends  it  in  thought,  the  latter  in  that  it  subjects  it  to  its 


272  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA, 

own  will  and  makes  it  serve  its  own  ends  ;  the  former 
labors  in  the  quarry  and  brings  the  rough  material  to 
light,  the  latter  builds  it  np  into  a  statelj  dwelling-house. 
Whilst  the  Germans,  perhaps  more  than  any  nation  ever 
did,  prepare  thoughts  and  ideas,  which  are  the  real  life- 
blood  of  profane  and  ecclesiastical  history — look  only  £t 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  substantially 
the  work  of  the  German  mind  ! — the  English  and  the 
Americans  immediately  convert  thoughts  into  resolutions, 
and  resolutions  into  deeds.  With  the  one,  everything 
runs  into  theory,  and  indeed  so  radically,  that  they  are 
oftentimes  in  danger  thereby  of  losing  all  they  aim  at  : 
with  the  other,  everything  runs  into  practice,  and  it  is 
quite  possible,  that  many  of  the  best  and  worst  German 
ideas  will  yet  attain  in  practical  America  a  much  greater 
importance  than  in  the  land  of  their  birth,  and  first 
become  flesh  and  blood  on  the^other  side  of  the  ocean, 
like  certain  plants,  which  need  transplanting  to  a  foreign 
soil,  in  order  to  bear  flowers  and  fruit. 

If  America,  as  many  suppose,  is  to  become  the  theatre 
of  the  last  decisive  conflict  between  faith  and  infidelity, 
between  Christ  and  Antichrist  ;  of  the  greatest  collision 
between  the  various  Christian  nations  and  confessions 
and  also  of  their  ifinal  reconciliation  ;  then  surely  the 
earnest  and  deep  thinking  of  the  German  mind,  especially 
through  the  medium  of  the  English  language,  which  is 
already  and  will  always  be  the  ruling  language  of  the 
whole  Northern  part  of  the  Western  Continent,  has  no 
insignificant  part  to  play  therein. 


GERMANY    AND    AMERICA.  27 

At  all  events,  if  German  science,  the  German  Church 
and  German  piety,  have  yet  a  future  anywhere  in  the 
world  beyond  Germany,  that  future  lies  in  America,  a 
new,  vast,  yea,  immeasurable  field  of  action.  But  it  does 
not  consist — for  I  must  protest  against  a  shallow  over 
rating  of  our  language  and  nationality — in  self-sufficient 
exclusiveness,  or  in  hostile  opposition  to,  but  in  friendly 
intercourse  and  union  with  the  sterling  and  earnest  English 
nationality,  so  nearly  allied  to  ours.  For  surely  God  has 
brought  together  these  two  nations,  branches  of  the  same 
original  Teutonic  stock,  upon  American  sort,  not  for  hatred, 
but  mutual  completion  and  gradual  intermingling,  so  that 
as  one  people  they  should  promote  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  Christian  civilization.  And  since  America  is  spread 
ing  her  net  further  and  further  over  the  globe,  and  exerts 
upon  public  opinion,  especially  in  Great  Britain  and  Ger 
many,  a  growing  influence,  the  American-German  Church, 
as  soon  as  it  lives  to  see  its  blooming-period,  as  we  hope 
it  will,  and  produces  an  Anglo-German  literature  of  its 
own,  can  adapt  the  treasures  of  the  German  mind  to  the 
wants  and  tastes  of  the  entire  English  nation,  since  indeed 
all  important  Anglo-American  works  are  re-printed  in 
England.  Thus,  to  cite  only  one  example,  the  fifth  edi 
tion  of  Torrey's  translation  of  Neander's  Church  History 
has  already  appeared  in  Boston  and  a  double  reprint  of  it 
in  Edinburgh  and  London,  whilst  the  German  original  has 
only  reached  the  second.  On  the  other  hand,  such  an 
Anglo-American  literature  would  bring  the  peculiar  excel- 
12* 


274  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

lences  of  the  English  and  American  mind  nearer  to  Ger 
many,  and  thereby  arouse  even  her  to  renewed  activity. 

O  amiable  enthusiast  !  So  perhaps  many  will  inwardly 
exclaim  at  this  statement  of  the  mission  of  the  German 
nation  and  Church  for  America  and  the  whole  Anglo- 
Saxon  world.  But  I  know  as  well  as  any  one,  that  the 
present  condition  of  the  Germans  in  the  United  States  is 
still  very  far  removed  from  this  aim  ;  yea,  partly  in  flat 
contradiction  to  it.  I  know  it,  and  would  here  utter  in 
sharp  tones,  that  in  general  it  is  not  at  all  calculated  to 
give  the  least  nourishment  to  the  pride  of  culture  of  our 
old  German  Adam,  but  much  rather,  to  cover  it  with 
deep  shame  and  humiliation.  The  great  mass  of  the  Ger 
man  emigrants  have  from  the  beginning  belonged  to  the 
lower  and  uneducated  classes,  and,  therefore,  they  are 
still  far  behind  the  Anglo-American  population.  But  the 
so-called  educated  emigrants,  many  of  whom  were  floated 
over  by  the  unsuccessful  revolutions  of  the  years  1848  and 
1849,  are,  alas  !  for  the  most  part,  not  only  estranged, 
in  a  painful  degree,  from  all  Christianity  and  the  Church, 
but  even  from  all  higher  morality,  and  deserve  rather  to 
be  called  the  pioneers  of  heathenism  and  a  new  barbarism 
than  of  civilization.  Such  persons  naturally  bring  only 
reproach  and  shame  upon  the  German  race  in  the  congress 
of  nations  in  the  New  World,  and  expose  it  to  indigna 
tion  and  horror,  or  to  the  pity  and  contempt  of  all  sober 
and  respectable  Americans. 

Excuse  me  from  the  unpleasant  task  of  giving  a  minute 


GERMANY    AXD    AMERICA.  275 

description  of  this  godless  German-American  pest,  as  ifc 
shows  itself  daily  in  the  rudest  and  most  insolent  fashion, 
especially  in  so  many  scurrilous  political  newspapers  and 
tippling-houses  in  all  the  larger  cities  of  the  Union.  Only 
allow  me  respectfully  to  remind  you,  that  the  guilt  of  it 
rests  on  Germany  herself,  who  sends  over,  or  permits  to 
go,  to  America,  as  though  it  were  merely  a  general  house 
of  correction  for  all  European  scamps  and  vagabonds, 
thousands,  yea,  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  among  them- 
a  large  portion  of  its  very  worst  and  most  incorrigible 
population,  without  caring  for  their  spiritual  and  moral 
wants,  although  they  are  flesh  of  her  flesh  and  bone  of 
her  bone.  On  the  night-side  of  German- American  affairs 
are  seen  the  fearful  consequences  of  German  rationalism 
and  infidelity,  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  mismanagement 
and  of  that  modern  philosophy,  or  rather  pseudo-philosophy 
and  mis-education,  which  makes  fallen  man,  instead  of  the 
living  God,  the  centre  and  end  of  all  things  ;  which  ex 
changes  the  Bible-doctrine  that  man  was  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  for  the  blasphemous  notion  that  God  is  no 
more  than  the  likeness  of  man,  and,  from  the  dizzy  height 
of  self-deification  sinks  down  into  the  abyss  of  brutality 
and  devilishness. 

Yes,  these  swarms  of  emigrants,  in  their  sad  state  of 
spiritual  decay,  constitute  a  powerful  call  on  the  German 
governments  and  German  nation  to  tremble  and  repent. 
Would  that  this  misery  were  recognized  as  a  common  sin 
and  a  common  guilt !  O  that  it  would  penetrate  our  very 
bones  and  marrow  !  O  that  the  entire  German  Church, 


276  GERMANY  AXD  AMERICA. 

along  with  the  abhorrence  of  the  sin,  would  at  the  same 
time  feel  a  Saviour's  love,  which  led  him  to  seek  and  to 
save  the  sinner,  and  neither  slumber  nor  sleep  till  her  lost 
sons  and  daughters,  with  penitent  hearts,  return  again 
into  their  father's  house  from  the  beggarly  husks  of  vice 
and  impiety. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  thanks  be  to  God  !  there  is 
no  reason  to  despair.  Paul  was  not  cast  down,  when 
solitary  and  alone  he  wandered  amid  the  numberless 
temples  of  the  gods  in  Athens  and  Corinth,  and  preached 
the  Divine  foolishness  of  the  cross  to  light-minded  Epicu 
reans,  self-righteous  Stoics  and  immoral  worldlings  j  and 
God  blessed  his  word  with  the  most  abundant  success. 
The  Jews  were  certainly,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  a  dege 
nerate  race,  and  yet  the  Saviour  came  out  of  their  midst, 
and  his  Apostles,  the  teachers  of  all  centuries — and  the 
synagogues  of  the  dispersion  of  the  cities  of  the  Roman 
empire  formed  green  oases  in  the  wilderness  of  Heathen 
ism  and  nuclei  for  Christian  congregations.  The  Greeks 
had  long  sunk  down  from  their  eminence  under  the  iron 
arm  of  the  imperial  Romans,  and  yet  their  literature  edu 
cated  the  latter  in  humane  studies,  and  the  conquered  gave 
Jaws  to  the  conquerors. 

But  not  this  alone.  The  circumstances  mentioned 
present  only  one  aspect  of  the  picture.  Besides  the  many 
unworthy  representatives  of  the  German  race,  there  are 
also  in  America  thousands  of  our  countrymen,  who,  as 
workmen,  farmers  and  merchants,  as  clergymen  and  schol 
ars,  belong  to  the  most  useful  and  esteemed  citizens  of  the 


GERMANY    AND    AMERICA.  277 

United  States,  and  a  sufficient  host  also  of  believing 
souls  as  salt  to  preserve  the  mass  from  corruption.  The 
German  Churches  of  the  Reformation  with  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  the  Lutheran  and  Heidelberg  Catechisms, 
and  the  rich  treasures  of  the  German  hymns  and  litur 
gies,  have  been  in  existence  there  for  a  hundred  years, 
and  everywhere  offer  to  the  new  immigrant  a  spiritual 
home. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  give  here  a  detailed 
description  of  the  state  of  the  German- American  Churches, 
and  I  can  the  rather  pass  on,  because  I  have  attempted 
to  do  so  in  a  book  of  mine,  just  about  leaving  the  press. 
I  will  only  say  thus  much  :  The  German  Evangelical 
Churches  of  the  United  States  are  yet  in  the  first  chaotic 
stages  of  development,  and  have  to  contend  with  innu 
merable  troubles  and  difficulties,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
deprived  of  the  support  of  religious  institutions  and  tradi 
tions,  which  are  the  growth  of  ages,  and  are  obliged  to 
create  new  regulations,  and  govern  and  administer  their 
own  affairs  ;  because  there  everything  rests  on  the  volun 
tary  principle,  to  which  the  Germans,  spoiled  by  the  habit 
of  receiving  maintenance  and  protection  from  an  estab 
lished  church,  can  only  become  reconciled  by  degrees. 
But  notwithstanding  all  this,  their  advance  is  steady  and 
even  very  rapid.  Out  of  their  long-continued  lethargy 
and  ignorance,  they  have  awakened  at  last  to  self- 
consciousness  and  activity.  They  have  not  only  doubled 
their  numbers  within  the  last  twenty  years,  but  have  also 
grown  in  knowledge,  piety  and  zeal,  and  assume  already 


278  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA. 

no  mean  position  beside  their  English  neighbors,  although 
certainly  in  many  things  still  behind  the  leading  denomi 
nations.  They  now  possess  independent  scientific  institu 
tions  of  their  own,  and  can  thus  develope  their  resources 
and  multiply  their  intellectual  and  ecclesiastical  powers 
every  year.  Indeed,  they  can  already  point  to  the  begin 
nings,  even  if  they  be  small,  of  an  independent  theolo 
gical  literature  and  earnest  ecclesiastical  movements.  In 
spite  of  countless  discouragements  and  difficulties,  they 
present  one  of  the  most  promising  fields  of  missionary 
labor,  and  have  as  much  prospect  of  external  and  internal 
growth,  as  any  Anglo-American  denomination,  or  any 
established  church  in  Europe.  The  more  they  expand 
and  are  built  up  in  piety  and  true  culture,  the  more  will 
they  exert  a  determining  influence  upon  the  course  of 
development  in  the  whole  American  Church  ;  work  in  it 
like  a  beneficial  leaven,  bring  honor  to  the  German  name, 
and  become  a  real  blessing  to  the  New  World. 

But  just  in  proportion  to  this  advancement,  the  con 
sciousness  of  the  greatness  and  responsibility  of  their 
work  and  their  distance  from  that,  which  they  should  and 
might  be,  increases  also  ;  especially  in  view  of  the  immi 
gration,  which  every  year  only  enlarges  their  material 
and  missionary  field,  without,  at  the  same  time,  supplying 
the  necessary  spiritual  force  for  its  cultivation.  They, 
therefore, 'still  louder  and  louder  cause  to  resound  over 
the  waves  of  the  Atlantic,  the  Macedonian  cry  : — "  Come 
over  and  help  us." 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  2t9 

III.    The  Duty  of  the  German  Evangelical  Mother- Church 
towards  her  Daughter  in  America. 

.  In  this  great  and  difficult  mission  of  German  Chris 
tianity  in  the  New  World  of  freedom  and  the  future,  it  is 
clear  that  the  German  mother-church  ought  to  take  an 
active  and  joyful  part,  prompted,  i£  not  by  the  higher 
motives  of  duty,  at  least  by  a  certain  Christian  ambition 
and  her  own  prospective  advantage.  I  do  not  speak  here 
of  the  native  American-German  population  ;  for  these 
the  churches  there  ought  themselves  to  provide  ;  but  of 
the  new  emigrants,  who,  like  flocks  without  shepherds, 
have  left  their  fatherland,  and  cannot  possibly  be  cared 
for  by  them  ;  hence  the  church  in  which  they  were  born, 
baptized  and  confirmed,  must  lose  a  large  portion  of  them 
unless  a  corresponding  number  of  ministers  emigrate  along 
with  the  people. 

"We  Protestants,  and  especially  we  Germans,  are  lack 
ing  in  esprit  de  corps  and  a  conscious  feeling  of  unity. 
The  interests  of  the  Church,  the  Body  of  Christ,  an 
thus  of  Protestantism  also,  are  fundamentally  the  same 
everywhere,  and  become  more  and  more  so  in  an  age, 
when  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  globe  are  brought 
so  near  together  by  means  of  communication  that  mock 
at  time  and  space.  If  one  member  suffers,  the  others 
suffer  with  it  ;  if  one  member  rejoices,  the  others  rejoice 
with  it.  England  will  continue  to  live  in  America  and 
Australia,  and  from  thence  rule  the  world,  when  St.  Paul's 
cathedral  has  long  crumbled  into  ruins  and  but  a  single 


280  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA. 

pier  of  Westminster  bridge  is  left  standing  as  a  witness 
to  the  departed  glory  of  the  city  of  Two  Millions.  And 
shall  German  Christianity  not  be  concerned  to  have  itself 
worthily  and  honorably  represented  on  the  chief  theatre 
of  future  history  in  the  world  and  the  Church  ;  to  have 
its  peculiar  charisma,  its  profound  ideas,  its  glorious 
hymns,  its  inwardness  and  genial  spirit  maintained  and 
made  a  blessing  to  the  whole  Anglo-American  people  ? 

Here,  if  anywhere,  a  rich  missionary  field  is  opened, 
and  a  favorable  opportunity  afforded  for  the  erection  of 
enduring  monuments  of  honor  and  victory.  And  then, 
do  we  not  know,  that  the  giving  of  aid  in  the  kingdom  of 
the  Spirit  is  reciprocal,  and  that  every  gift,  sooner  or  later, 
conies  back,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  giver,  laden 
with  blessings  ?  It  is  known,  that  the  most  flourishing 
Anglo- American  Churches  begin  already  to  pay  back  the 
debt  of  gratitude  which  they  owe  to  Europe  ;  that  during 
the  terrible  famine  of  the  year  1846,  they  sent  large 
supplies  to  Roman  Catholic  Ireland,  even  in  spite  of 
religious  differences.  Such  a  time  of  thankful  repayment 
will  also  come  for  the  German  Church  in  America. 
Remember,  that  what  you  do  for  her,  is  done,  if  not 
directly  for  yourselves,  perchance  for  your  own,  or  your 
children's  children.  For  the  emigration  continues  and 
will  go  on,  and  who  knows  if  it  may  not  yet  become  a 
necessity,  yea,  a  Divine  command  to  the  faithful,  like  the 
exodus  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  Egypt.  No  one, 
who  has  the  interests  of  Germany  at  heart,  can  wish  for 
such  a  result  ;  but  Europe  rests  upon  a  volcano,  which 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  281 

can  at  any  moment  break  out  into  a  new  eruption,  and 
no  bayonets,  no  political  wisdom  is  able  to  stand  security 
for  the  present  order  of  things  for  the  space  of  two  years 
to  come. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  matters  are  not  so  desperate  in 
America,  as  is  sometimes  represented,  that  the  German 
emigrants,  if  they  fail  to  carr^  their  own  ministers  with 
them,  necessarily  fall  back  into  heathenism.  On  the 
contrary,  America  has  become  to  many  the  birth-place  of 
the  new  life.  The  Bible,  Tract  and  Home  Missionary 
societies  stretch  over  the  Germans  also  an  arm  of  love, 
and  several  Anglo-American  Churches,  especially  the 
Methodists,  have  for  some  years  labored  among  them  with 
considerable  success,  and  established  a  fair  number  of 
missionary  congregations.  We  rejoice  with  the  Apostle, 
if  only  Christ  is  preached.  It  is  infinitely  better  that  the 
German  emigrants  should  become  pious  Methodists,  or 
Presbyterians,  or  Baptist  Christians,  than  that  they 
should  sink  into  indifferentism  and  unbelief.  But  the 
praiseworthy  zeal  of  Anglo-American  Churches  in  behalf 
of  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our  countrymen,  does,  of  course, 
not  relieve  us  from  our  own  duty  ;  it  ought  rather  to 
spur  us  on  to  renewed  efforts,  so  that  the  material,  that 
justly  belongs  to  us,  may  be,  if  possible,  retained,  and 
contribute  its  part  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  great 
work,  which  directly  belongs  to  the  German  Evangelical 
Church  and  can  be  performed  adequately  by  her  alone. 

Yet,  why  should  I  bring  further  proofs  for  what  is  as 
clear  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  the  duty  of  a  faithful  mother, 


282  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA'. 

who  can  never  forget  her  own  child,  but  follows  it  every 
where  with  a  heart  full  of  love,  sends  up  to  heaven 
prayers  and  supplications  for  its  welfare  at  all  seasons, 
and  beholds  in  it  the  continuation  of  her  own  life,  her  joy 
and  her  crown  ! 

The  sense  of  duty  in  this  matter  needs  not  to  be 
awakened  for  the  first  time.  Philanthropic  societies  in 
Germany,  actuated  by  motives  purely  humane,  have 
already  taken  care  to  provide  moral  regulations  for  the 
emigrants  and  safe-guards  against  extortion  and  cheatery 
of  every  kind,  especially  in  the  sea-ports  of  both  countries. 
The  need  also  of  ecclesiastical  and  religious  regulations  in 
behalf  of  the  emigrants,  so  that  they  may  become  a 
blessing  to  Germany  and  America,  has  long  been  felt,  and 
for  supplying  this  need,  several  societies  have  reared  up 
ministers  and  school-teachers  for  sending  out  to  America, 
and  thus  effected  much  good.  It  is,  therefore,  only 
required  to  render  this  sense  of  duty  already  existing,  and 
the  religious  interest  felt  in  the  affairs  of  German  emigra 
tion,  more  intense,  deep  and  universal,  and  provide  ways 
and  means,  by  which  this  want  may  be  best  met,  and 
profitable  results  attained  in  the  surest  way. 

We  see  little  to  hope  from  grand  schemes  for  founding 
colonies  of  German  churches  ;  for  their  success  is  more 
than  doubtful,  because  of  the  divisions  that  reign  both  in 
Europe  and  America.  It  is  far  better  for  the  Germans 
themselves  to  become  amalgamated  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  and  to  coalesce  with  them  into  one  American 
nation,  than  to  be  isolated  and  form  a  state  in  the  state 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  283 

and  an  ecclesiola  in  ecclesia.  For  the  present  we  must 
be  content  with  doing  good  to  individuals  and  multiplying 
the  amount  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  resources,  by 
which  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  may  be  best  aided  to  a 
final  triumph  among  the  Germans  in  the  United  States 
Organization  in  mass,  the  formation  of  a  church-cosmos 
out  of  the  American  chaos  of  sects,  we  must  leave  to  the 
creative  activity  of  God  and  the  progress  of  events.  But 
the  following  can,  and  ought,  to  be  done  by  German^,  in 
order  that  the  emigration  to  America,  which  actually 
exists  and  continually  goes  on,  may  be  made  an  honor  to 
our  church  and  a  blessing  to  the  Old  and  New  Worlds. 

1 .  The  introduction  of  a  farewell  service  for  emigrants, 
in  which,  in  the  presence  of  the  interceding  congregation, 
they  will  be  warned  by  their  pastor  of  the  dangers  and 
temptations  of  the  journey,  exhorted  to  remain  true  to 
the  faith  of  their  fathers  and  their  own  vows  of  baptism 
and  confirmation,  and  provided  with  Bibles  and  other  good 
books  and  tracts.     Such  a  service  has  already  been  intro 
duced  in  several  places  in  the  kingdom  of  Wiirtemberg 
and  with  good  effect  both  for  those  remaining  behind  and 
those  departing,  since  the  heart  is  peculiarly  sensible  to 
religious  impressions  in  moments  of  separation. 

2.  The   appointment    of  missionaries  for   emigrants  in 
places  of  embarkation,  especially  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Havre 
and    Antwerp.     There   are   indeed   in   all   these    places 
agents  for  their  material  interests.     Why  should  there 
not  also  be  agents  of  the  Church,  whose  special  duty  it 
shall  be  to  keep  a  moral  guard  over  the  swarms  of  emi- 


284  GERMANY  A\D  AMERICA. 

grants,  and  labor  among  them  by  all  lawful  means — by 
private  conversation,  by  public  preaching  in  the  church, 
in  the  streets  and  on  shipboard,  and  by  the  distribu 
tion  of  Bibles,  hymn-books,  works  on  practical  religion, 
and  useful  directions  for  new  settlers  ?  The  beginnings 
of  such  an  enterprise  already  exist. 

3.  The  sending  out  of  well  qualified  ministers  to  those  who 
ham  emigrated,  and  especially,  if  possible,  such  as  possess, 
along  with  the  necessary  theological  culture,  sound  evan 
gelical  and  churchly  principles,  energetic  faith,  a  talent  for 
popular  speaking,  practical  wisdom  and  a  tact  for  ruling 
well  and  organizing  congregations,  but  above  all  a  self- 
denying  missionary  zeal.  The  notion,  that  Avhat  is  no 
longer  fit  for  Europe  may  be  good  enough  for  America, 
is  radically  wrong.  He  who  is  not  able  to  help  himself 
here  will  fail  completely  yonder,  where  every  man  is 
thrown  upon  his  individual  exertions  and  measured  by  his 
personal  merits  ;  and  if  the  German  Church  would 
assume  an  honorable  position  over  against  the  Anglo- 
American  Churches,  and  do  credit  to  her  mother,  she 
Aiust  be  represented  by  a  faithful  ministry,  well  qualified, 
theoretically  and  practically,  for  their  work. 

The  venerable  Orphan  House  of  Halle  has  won  great 
credit  by  having  sent  out  the  Fathers  of  the  American 
Lutheran  Church,  and  those  for  the  most  part,  worthy, 
able  men  of  blessed  memory,  such  as  Muehlenberg,  Kunze 
and  Helmuth  ;  and,  in  our  times,  special  societies  have 
been  formed  for  this  purpose  at  Langenberg,  Bremen, 
Stade  and  Berlin.  I  am  personally  acquainted  with 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  285 

several,  who  have  gone  from  the  Langcnberg  Society,  the 
Rough  House  of  Dr.  Wichern,  the  Basel  Missionary 
Institute  and  the  Swiss  Pastoral  Aid  Society,  and  here 
cheerfully  bear  testimony  to  the  fftct,  that  they  labor, 
amid  manifold  difficulties,  with  great  success,  and  have 
founded  many  flourishing  congregations.  How  much 
even  one  man  may  do  for  America  is  seen  in  the  examples 
of  Pastor  Loche,  who,  in  a  certain  measure,  can  be  called 
the  founder  of  the  Old  Lutheran  Synod  of  Missouri,  and 
Pastor  Spittler,  from  whose  Missionary  Institute  at  the 
Crischona  near  Basel  a  Synod  has  gone  forth  for  the 
Germans  in  Texas.  These  Societies  might  be  revived, 
strengthened  and  enlarged,  and,  if  possible,  other  similar 
ones  besides  established,  say  in  Frankfort,  Stuttgart, 
Hamburg  and  Bremen. 

The  chief  difficulty  appears  to  lie  in  the  lack  of  means, 
since  enough  can  scarcely  be  obtained  for  the  growing 
practical  wants  of  Germany  herself.  But  every  new 
want,  if  only  felt  aright,  creates  also  its  supply,  and  the 
sending  out  of  missionaries  to  the  heathen-world  has  done 
no  injury  to  our  list  of  candidates  ;  nay  rather,  the  zeal 
for  Foreign  Missions  has  awakened  new  zeal  for  Inner 
Missions,  and  vice  versa.  Perhaps,  by  negotiation  with 
the  German  Church  Governments,  there  might  be  brought 
about  a  temporary  transfer  of  candidates,  who,  enriched 
by  an  experience  of  five  or  ten  years  in  America,  could 
afterwards  return  home,  and  thus,  at  the  same  time,  form 
so  many  personal  links  of  union  between  the  German 
Churches  in  both  hemispheres. 


286  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA. 

4.  The  special  training  of  pious  and  gifted  young  men 
for  the  service  of  the  German  Church  in  America,  with  full 
regard  to  her  peculiar  circumstances  and  wants.     This 
can  be  done,  eitherby  the  establishment  of  a  particular 
theological  school  in  some  ceaport,  like  Bremen  or  Ham 
burg  ;    or    in   connection   with    institutions   for   foreign 
missions,  like  those  of  Basel  and  Barmen  ;  or  finally — 
the  most  simple  and    practicable  method — by  founding 
and  supporting   professorships   and   scholarships   in   the 
American-German  Colleges  and   Theological  Seminaries 
already  existing,  which  are  obliged,  for  want  of  funds,  to 
turn  away  many  indigent  applicants.     By  assistance  of 
this  kind,  permanent  fountains  of  life  and  blessing  would 
be   opened    in    these    institutions,   and    infinitely  more 
be  done  for  the  g~eat  mass,  than  by  the  contributions  of 
single  congregations  towards  the  building  of  a  church  or 
similar  local  ends,  which  should  rest  altogether  on  local 
sympathies  and  be  supported  by  them. 

5.  The  easiest  method  to  obtain  the  necessary  means 
for  the  various  undertakings,  especially  the  latter,  would 
be  by  raising  a  voluntary  collection   in  all   the   churches 
which,  of  course,  would  not  exclude  particular  efforts  in 
certain   cases.     Such   a   collection   should,   however,   be 
repeated,  from  time  to  time,  especially  in  countries  where 
the  emigration  is  the  greatest.  -   The  money  received  might 
be  distributed  by  a  responsible  central  committee,  partly 
to  American  societies  of  this  kind,  which  already  exist  in 
various  cities  of  Germany,  and  partly  to  the  Education 
Boards  of  the  Lutheran,  German  Reformed  and  United 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  287 

Evangelical  Churches,  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  of 
their  students,  for  the  purpose  of  training  up  preachers 
for  the  German  emigrants  in  the  Eastern  sea-ports  and  in 
the  Western  States.  If  a  church-diet  similar  to  the 
German,  is  formed  among  these  American  Churches — a 
thing  not  at  all  impossible — the  whole  business  can  be 
carried  on  by  the  central  committees  of  these  two  bodies. 
But  as  matters  now  stand,  it  can  be  accomplished  with 
no  great  difficulty,  through  the  trustees  of  the  seminaries 
and  the  presidents  of  the  Synods. 

This  proposition  is  not  altogether  new.  The  Established 
Church  of  Mecklenburg,  by  the  efforts'  of  Dr.  Kliefoth, 
sent  out  some  years  ago  a  general  collection  to  the 
Lutheran  Concord  College  in  St.  Louis,  and  the  Evangeli 
cal  Church  of  Prussia  has  done  the  same  this  very  month, 
for  the  United  Evangelical  Seminary  of  Marthasville  in 
the  State  of  Missouri.  These  are  noble  deeds  of  love, 
which  will  hold  an  honorable  place  in  the  annals  of  church- 
history,  and  bring  down  the  blessing  of  God  on  both 
parties.  0  that  the  entire  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany 
would  imitate  these  beautiful  examples,  rear  for  herself  a 
glorious  monument  of  helping  love,  exhibit  to  the  world  a 
proof  of  the  unity  of  the  German  Protestant  churches, 
and  lay  her  numberless  emigrants,  with  their  children  and 
children's  children,  under  a  perpetual  debt  of  gratitude  ! 

I  leave  it  altogether  to  the  Diet,  whether  to  adopt  these 
or  similar  propositions,  whose  practicability  is  partly  at 
least  guaranteed  by  experience,  or  to  hand  them  over  to 


288  GERMANY    AND    AMERICA. 

the  Central  Committee  of  Inner  Mission  for  closer  con 
sideration  and  carrying  out  in  due  time. 

6.  But,  finally,  it  is  a  matter  of  great  importance,  to 
bring  about  a  more  intimate  connection  letween  the  German 
mother-Church  of  Europe  and  her  German  and  Anglo- 
German  daughter  in  America,  for  their  mutual  strengthen 
ing  and  encouragement  in  every  good  work.  This  can  be 
best  done  by  an  occasional  correspondence,  introduced  by 
a  letter  of  fraternal  salutation  from  the  Church  Diet  to 
the  German  Evangelical  Churches  of  America,  as  well  as 
by  an  occasional  exchange  of  delegates  ;  and  in  regard  to 
the  latter,  I  can  promise  any  representative  of  the  German 
Church  a  most  cordial  reception  from  all  our  American 
German  Synods. 

The  greatest  misery  and  the  deepest  wound  of  the 
Protestant  Church,  next  to  the  wide-spread  apostacy  from 
living  faith,  is  her  dismemberment  into  so  many  con 
fessions,  sects  and  parties.  It  is  the  devil,  who  sows  the 
seeds  of  discord  and  employs  against  us  so  successfully 
the  cunning  policy  of  divide  et  impera.  These  divisions,  it 
is  true,  must,  in  the  hand  of  God,  who  knows  how  to 
bring  good  out  of  evil,  contribute  to  the  greater  increase 
of  Christian  powers  and  activities,  and  will  at  last,  as 
negative  conditions,  lead  to  the  highest  unity,  just  as  the 
fall  of  Adam  was  the  occasion  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  But  in  spite  of  this,  we  must  condemn  them  in 
principle,  and  bewail  them  as  a  common  sin.  Melanchthon, 
the  "  teacher  of  Germany,"  esteemed  the  water  of  the 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  289 

Elbe  insufficient,  as  a  stream  of  tears,  to  give  a  complete 
expression  to  his  grief  over  the  distractions  of  the 
Evangelical  Church.  Now,  it  is  very  questionable, 
whether  Protestantism  as  such  and  with  its  present 
resources,  has  the  capacity  and  the  mission,  to  produce  an 
external  church-organism,  possessed  of  complete  unity  ; 
or  whether  the  Lord  himself  has  not  rather  reserved  this 
till  his  second  advent.  At  all  events,  however,  it  is  the 
sacred  duty  of  Evangelical  Protestantism,  as  the  voice  of 
one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  as  a  Church  bearing  witness 
by  the  pure  word  and  sacraments,  as  the  representative 
and  guardian  of  personal  Christianity,  of  direct  living 
intercourse  betweeu  the  individual  soul  and  its  Saviour, 
to  pave  the  way  for  his  glorious  second  coming,  and 
promote,  in  the  most  zealous  manner,  the  free  inward 
communion  of  faith  and  love,  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace,  according  to  the  earnest  exhortation  of  the 
Apostle,  till  the  Lord,  by  a  new  reformation,  or  by  his 
personal  appearing  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  gather  his 
people  from  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  create  a  body 
of  such  inward  unity,  that  the  colossal  theocratic  organism 
of  Church  and  State  in  the  Middle  Ages — that  fleshly 
anticipation  of  the  regnum  gloria — and  all  our  boldest 
ideals  of  union  and  confederation  will  be  thrown  far  into 
the  shade.  Thus  much  stands  immovably  firm,  as  sure  as 
Christ  is  the  truth  :  The  day  will  come,  when  there  will 
be  but  one  Shepherd  and  one  flock,  when  all  believers  will 
be  perfectly  one,  as  He  and  the  Father  are  one. 

Do  not  the  signs  of  the  times,  the  present  discoveries 
13 


290  GERMANY    AND   AMERICA. 

and  means  of  communication,  point  out  typically  and  pro 
phetically  the  approaching  fulfilment  of  the  precious 
promise  and  intercessory  prayer  of  our  Great  High  Priest? 
Europe  and  America  are  brought  nearer  together  every 
year  in  the  way  of  commerce  and  multifarious  intercourse, 
and  the  Atlantic  ocean  forms  now  a  barrier  of  separation 
scarcely  greater  than  the  Alps  did  formerly  between  Ger 
many  and  Italy.  The  more  pressing,  therefore,  does  the 
exhortation  of  the  Apostle  come  to  us,  to  cherish  and 
promote  the  communion  of  faith  and  love  in  the  Lord, 
who  is  the  fountain  and  centre  of  life  to  all  believers  ;  the 
exhortation,  which  one  of  the  most  noble  and  pious  Ger 
mans  has  so  beautifully  clothed  in  poetic  language  : 

Let  us  so  united  be, 
As  Thou  with  the  Father  art, 
Till  no  more  on  earth  we  see 
Sundered  members  dwell  apart, 
And  alone  from  thy  bright  glow 
Drink  our  glory  like  a  star  ; 
Then  the  world  shall  see  and  know 
That  we  thy  disciples  are. 

With  this  wish  and  prayer,  I  turn  back  again,  from  the 
dear  land  for  my  birth  and  home  of  my  spirit,  to  severe 
labors  for  the  German  Church  in  America  ;  and  indeed 
in  great  sadness  of  heart,  but,  at  the  same  time,  in  the 
certain  expectation  of  a  reunion,  if  not  at  a  European  or 
an  American  church-diet,  yet  in  the  general  assembly 
and  Church  of  the  First-Born,  amid  an  innumerable  corn- 


GERMANY  AND  AMERICA.  291 

pany  of  angels,  at  the  grand  festival  of  reconciliation  for 
all  nations  and  confessions  in  the  holy  city  of  God  on 
high,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  mother  and  final  home 
of  us  all,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate,  brotherly  farewell  ! 


THE     END. 


14  DAY  USE 

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